Nurses at Montepio Rainha D. Leonor on strike

Nurses at Montepio Rainha D. Leonor, in Caldas da Rainha, are on strike this Friday, a day called by the Portuguese Nurses' Union (SEP), in protest against working and pay conditions.

The strike is based, according to the SEP, on the “chaotic” situation at Montepio Rainha D. Leonor (MRDL), “due to the lack of nurses and the deregulation of schedules”.

In a statement, the union warns that the administration of the Mutualist association MRDL proceeded to “unilaterally change the working conditions of nurses” and other professionals, “reduced salaries and deregulated schedules, thus causing a growing number of nurses to leave the institution”.

For the union, "the worsening lack of adequate staffing of nursing teams, caused by the refusal of the MRDL administration to negotiate a Nursing Career, with regularization of working conditions and recovery of remuneration conditions, has led to an overload of work and the revolt of professionals."

The SEP met with the Montepio Board of Directors on June 23 and presented, on the 27th of that month, a negotiation proposal to improve working and remuneration conditions, in line with those in force in the private social sector, “to try to stop the departure of nurses and ensure the recruitment of others”.

Almost two months after the proposal was presented, “the Board of Directors has still not given any response,” a stance that led the union to maintain the strike scheduled for this Friday.

Montepio Rainha D. Leonor is a mutualist association founded in 1860 and which has provided medical services to its members since the 1900s.

Since 1947, it has had a Health Center, with hospitalization and a banking service operating 24 hours a day and open to the community.

It also has a Senior Citizen Support Center and an Assisted Living Community.