From Wednesday to Friday, nurses and midwives will camp in front of the Government building to express their dissatisfaction after the law which increased their wage was declared unconstitutional. In parallel, a protest will be held in front of the building of the Constitutional Court in Kosice.
Nurses say they are not complaining solely about salaries but a whole range of problems. “We have decided to take this step after careful consideration. We want to show that we are not a passive group of healthcare professionals who grumble but eventually keep on doing their job even if they do not get what they want,” said President of the Trade Union of Nurses and Midwives Monika Kavecka. Such groups are disappointed that the Health Minister Zuzana Zvolenská told them that there is no money to increase their salaries. They reminded her that in Slovakia one nurse takes care of 30 patients, while the European average is ten patients. Doctors’ Trade Unions expressed their support for the nurses’ protest. Its chairman Peter Visolajský plans to join them in person.
In May 2011, nurses and midwives gathered 250,000 signatures on a petition that led to the adoption of a law on their minimum wage. It said that from April 1st last year nurses should have had a minimum guaranteed wage of between €640 and € 928 euro depending on the length of professional experience. The application of this law was suspend by the Constitutional Court last July at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office. The court had to review its constitutionality after a request submitted by the Slovak Chamber of Doctors. The ultimate verdict issued by Constitutional Court in June, ruled that the law is unconstitutional.
