Nearly 10,000 Join Health Care Workers Protest In Budapest
- 13 May 2015 9:00 AM
Health care workers protested for higher salaries, a career model and against the “gratitude money” system at two rallies on Tuesday afternoon, eventually converging on Kossuth tér in a crowd of near 10,000 as MPs debated health care policy. As participants gathered on Heroes Square, speakers said health care personnel are committed to patients, but also warned that they must look after their own families, a hard task at present wage levels.
Nurses, many of them wearing black, marched from Clark Ádám tér to the health care state secretariat on downtown Arany János utca, to hand over a petition in which they summed up their expectations for a career for life model, as well as overtime pay and higher wages.
They are calling for a 50% wage increase from the autumn, and a 100% rise by 2018.
Protestors also called for the restoration of a separate Health Ministry, predictable incomes, a supplements and professional promotion system and regulations for rehiring staff members who have retired.
State secretary Gábor Zombor said the protestors are right in their complaints, as there are long-standing problems in the sector. The cabinet takes these problems seriously, and that is why it has been in negotiations with unions for several weeks, he said.
Source: Hungary Around the Clock
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MTI photo: Szigetváry Zsolt
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