Nurses have re-launched their struggle for higher salaries, the Nurses and Midwives Trade Union (OZSaPA) has placed around 30 billboards across Slovakia appealing to the Government to keep its promise, said OZSaPA representatives on Tuesday.
The billboards directly address Prime Minister Robert Fico: “Prime Minister, try winning people over by acting rather than with promises.” They are aimed at persuading Fico to lobby without delay for the re-approval of a law relating to the pay of nurses and midwives. OZSaPA head Monika Kavecka at a briefing earlier in the day stated that nurses and midwives decided to launch the campaign after sending a letter to Fico in December 2013 that remains without response. In the letter, they asked the premier for an official meeting concerning their demands. “We would like to remind [the prime minister] that during our personal meeting during the three-day camp-out protest in early October 2013, the prime minister voiced his interest in tackling the situation of at least those nurses that are employed in medical facilities under the remit of municipalities and regional governments,” emphasised Kavecka. The representative added that nurses and midwives are the "legislative homeless", as they are the only medical workers in Slovakia that have no legislation to govern their remuneration. Original legislation that increased the salaries of nurses - drafted by the former government (2010-12) and passed by Parliament in February 2012 - was rejected by the Constitutional Court as unconstitutional. Meanwhile, nurses have sent their own legislative proposal to the Health Ministry. “We haven't received any response to date, however,” complained Kavecka, adding that the claims in the newly-drafted proposal are similar to those in the original Minimum Nurse and Midwives Salary Requirements Act of 2012.
