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Nurses’ Union: We Have Had Enough!

The Croatian Professional Union of Nurses and Medical Technicians (HSS MS-MT) announced this evening that with today’s strike they want to send a message to the authorities and that nurses and technicians ‘after a year of ignoring issues in healthcare, avoiding social dialogue, and missing all legal deadlines, have decided that enough is enough’.

– Our right to strike is legitimate and based on domestic and international legal regulations, and that is precisely why we are exercising that right; however, in the last hours before the start of the strike, there is strong pressure on all healthcare workers who wish to exercise their democratic right to strike, in such a way that they are warned in advance of salary reductions if they participate in the strike – states the president of the Main Council of the Croatian Professional Union of Nurses and Medical Technicians, Anica Prašnjak.

She adds that they are ‘tired of unpaid overtime, the non-employment of new healthcare workers, unacceptable working conditions in institutions, and harassment in the workplace’ and that they are ‘most tired of the lack of will to resolve all these issues’.

Prašnjak states in the announcement that the Croatian Professional Union of Nurses and Medical Technicians ‘timely undertook all activities related to the announcement of the strike, mediation, and informing members and institutions about the urgently needed tasks that must be continuously performed in healthcare institutions during the strike.

She also claims that ‘the Ministry of Health did not make a Decision on urgently needed tasks in healthcare within the legally prescribed deadlines, so such tasks were proposed by the Croatian Professional Union of Nurses and Medical Technicians in accordance with applicable regulations and authorities’.

President of HSS MS – MT Anica Prašnjak announced earlier today that during the one-day strike of nurses and technicians, the minimum necessary tasks and emergency interventions will be ensured, and the strike will take place in all healthcare institutions except for the Emergency Service. She stated that her union is going on strike also due to the hiring ban, which has resulted in a shortage of as many as 12,000 nurses in the system.