Nurses, as well as physiotherapists and other healthcare workers, gathered on Tuesday (November 19) for a protest in front of the Prime Minister's office in Warsaw. The main demand of the protesters is higher wages and a more fair treatment of healthcare system employees.
Several hundred people, including those from regions such as Podhale, Podkarpacie, and Świętokrzyskie, gathered in front of the PM's office. Nurses held banners that read: "Where are the changes you promised?" and "Politicians have once again failed to keep their word."
Before the speech by the head of the National Trade Union of Nurses and Midwives (OZZPiP), Krystyna Ptok, the crowd was heard blowing vuvuzelas. The traffic on Aleje Ujazdowskie was closed.
The OZZPiP believes that the Ministry of Health does not fully understand their problems. Therefore, even before the protest, nurses requested a meeting with the Prime Minister, but did not receive a response.
"We want a meeting with the Prime Minister," Ptok demanded in her speech.
We want a change to this law
"We are here to support the citizens' bill on minimum wages, which aims to fix the flawed law that currently allows for the degradation and discrimination of nurses. We are fighting for nurses in the second, fifth, and sixth groups. We want a change to this law, also because we have many people who will soon retire," said one of the nurses present at the protest.
"It’s about making sure that the authorities don't take away what we have earned and that we can simply live with dignity," said another nurse.
"We are disappointed because before the elections, we were promised that our demands would be met," added another protester.
The citizens' bill bases the nurses' salary system on their qualifications rather than the qualifications required for the job. The nurses also proposed increasing the coefficient used to calculate the minimum wage, which would result in wage increases.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, tvnwarszawa.pl, PAP
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: TVN24