SNS nurses to join public sector strike on 20 November. Planned operations and procedures may be postponed
The Portuguese Nurses' Union, SEP, has joined the nationwide public sector strike on 20 November (SEP announcement). The strike was called on 27 October by Frente Comum, an alliance of public sector unions. It lasts 24 hours from 00:00 on 20 November, and nurses will strike on all three shifts: night, morning and afternoon (Notícias ao Minuto). Laboratory technicians, radiographers and physiotherapists in the SNS, the national health service, are also striking on 19 and 20 November (see our article).
Hospitals and health centres will provide only minimum services: emergency care, inpatient wards that run around the clock, intensive care, operating theatres (except for planned operations), dialysis and cancer treatment, including urgent cancer surgery.
Planned operations, appointments and procedures are not on this list: if yours is booked for 20 November, it may be postponed.
The nurses are demanding a 15% pay rise for public sector workers, a meal allowance of €13 a day, competitions to fill specialist nurse and management posts, and career progression points counted back to 2018. In the most recent public sector strike, on 2 November, 80% of hospital staff stopped work (see our article).
