SNS lab technicians, radiographers and physiotherapists to strike on 19 and 20 November. Tests and scans may be postponed
The STSS union has called a strike from 00:00 on 19 November to 24:00 on 20 November. It covers the técnicos superiores de diagnóstico e terapêutica — the staff who carry out tests, X-rays, CT and MRI scans and provide physiotherapy in hospitals and health centres of the national health service, the SNS: lab technicians, radiographers, physiotherapists, diagnostic testing specialists and others (Notícias ao Minuto, Renascença).
If you have a test, scan or physiotherapy session booked for 19 or 20 November, check with the hospital or health centre in advance whether you will be seen: non-urgent care may be postponed.
On 20 November the strike coincides with a general public sector strike called by the Frente Comum union federation, so schools, tax offices and AIMA may also be closed that day.
Minimum services will be maintained. Where staff work around the clock, there will be as many people on duty as on a normal Sunday. Courses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy that began before the strike will continue, urgent treatment will be started, and high-priority scheduled operations will go ahead, as will anything a doctor certifies as urgent.
The strikers are demanding a new pay scale, 1.5 points a year in performance appraisals (pay rises depend on these points), payment of arrears from previous years and the hiring of new staff. On 19 November they will gather outside the Prime Minister's residence in Lisbon.
