The secretary general of the National Union of Nurses, Cruz Matete, said that the 15-point claim book was submitted to the Ministry of Health on the 7th of October and only on the 26th did they receive a response from the employer.
"Yesterday [Thursday] we held the assembly, we reviewed point by point, the 15 points contained in the claim book, according to the responses of the Ministry of Health, which does not satisfy. In the assembly, the professionals decided to paralyze from the 7th of November, Monday, at 08h00 am, in all health units", said Cruz Matete in statements to Rádio Nacional de Angola.
The union official stressed that the union is available to negotiate, stressing that during the strike, minimum services will be ensured as determined by the Strike Law.
"There will be a 50 percent reduction in the workforce in emergency services, namely emergency benches, delivery rooms, operating theaters, intensive care, hemodialysis and hospitalization", he said.
For outpatient and outpatient services, all these services will be closed in public health units across the country, noted Cruz Matete.
According to the secretary general of the National Union of Nurses, the first claim requires the immediate replacement of the added hours, based on Decree 175/2022, which regulates the added hours to be paid to nursing professionals.
"It has to be 48 hours a week, what happens is that in the first months, May, June, July, the ministry was paying 149 hours a month, but since August they are no longer paying", he said, adding that the "immediate replacement" of the hours is "the first concern".
In addition, nursing professionals claim the payment of the covid-19 subsidy and also the payment of the 6 percent increase in the base salary for specialized third-class nursing technicians.
"They have not benefited to date, they have already paid July, August, September until October and until today they do not receive their salary according to the 6 percent increment", he commented.
Another concern is the issue of transition, he pointed out: "There was a transition in 2019, and many of the colleagues should have moved to the category of second-class technician, they did not move and continue from 2019 to today in the same category", he added.
