Growing social discontent

Protests among public sector employees have spread in recent days.

Roxana Vasile, 16.11.2023, 14:00

The
employees of pension houses, employment agencies and the four
agencies for payments and social inspection, as well as the employees
of the county public health directorates temporarily stopped working
to demand higher salaries and the elimination of inequalities and to
complain about working conditions and their workload. They are all
willing to go on a warning strike and even a general strike unless
solutions are found to their demands, some of which were presented by
the leader of the AJOFM trade union in
Botoşani county, Gabriela Drobotă:

Our demands are generated by the inequalities in the public sector
in terms of salaries. Other categories of employees who occupy the
same posts have much bigger salaries. Not to mention our working
conditions, old equipment, applications that are often all but
useless…

Dozens
of health ministry employees also took to the streets in Bucharest
after Parliament passed legislation to address a similar situation
faced by the county health insurance houses who were complaining they
earn less than their colleagues in the central branch. Trade union
leader Simona Miu:

The employees of the health ministry are protesting to demand the
uniform granting of the bonus for harmful working conditions across
the ministry. We want this bonus to be granted to all employees. Our
second demand is for our salaries to be aligned with those at the
National House.

Pharmacists
are also complaining about their salaries and the delays in the
reimbursement for subsidised medicine, among others:

We want to draw the authorities’ attention to our profession,
which they have neglected for many years. We want to show our role in
the health system and demonstrate that what we do for patients cannot
be ignored. We are making extraordinary efforts at this moment to
ensure the medicines needed by patients.

The
Bucharest Administration of Hospitals and Medical Services has called
on the government to take measures to prevent the collapse of the
medical system. The delays in the reimbursement of cytostatic drugs,
the inconsistent funding of the national orthopaedic programme which
creates big problems for implantology and the lack of funds for the
payment of utilities are just some of the problems. On top of all
this, says the Bucharest Administration of Hospitals and Medical
Services, the government recently issued an emergency order to reduce
spending in public sector institutions that may endanger patients’
health and the working of hospitals due to a lack of financial
resources. (CM)