Unions expect 80% of strike participation in Algarve healthcare sector, but ULS says 24%

Unions and administration today made different assessments of the adherence of Algarve health workers to the 24-hour strike called for today, with the former placing it at 80% and the Local Health Unit (ULS) at 24%.

Called by the Southern Zone Doctors' Union (SMZS), the Portuguese Nurses' Union (SEP) and the Southern Public Service Workers' Union to demand better working conditions and the hiring of more professionals, the strike was a "success", union spokesperson André Gomes told Lusa after the start of the afternoon shift, which began at 4:00 pm.

"We now have complete regional data, and our assessment of the day of this strike is that it was a successful action, with 80% participation," he stated.

Also speaking to Lusa, the president of the Algarve ULS, Tiago Botelho, pointed to a 24% uptake across all careers, in the morning shift (which ended at 4:00 pm).

By early afternoon, the unions had indicated that strike participation was between 60 and 80%.

According to André Gomes, the 80% figure is the “global participation of the three unions”, with “some services paralyzed at 100%, others at 60%”.

Also, "some health centers closed" because of the strike, which included doctors, nurses and other professionals from the National Health Service (SNS) units in the Algarve, he added.

"It was a commitment by the three unions. I would say it was a historic strike from this perspective, bringing together the three career types, and it had this impact on the strike. We hope that avenues will now open for more robust negotiations, and we hope the government listens to the workers," he stated.

Although data only related to the morning shift, the president of the Algarve ULS considered that the strike had a “significantly reduced” impact on hospital activity.

"Data collected by administrative services for the morning shift indicates a 24% strike rate. We even have a significantly reduced number of canceled appointments; therefore, 2,160 appointments were scheduled for the morning shift, but 193 were canceled," the hospital administrator told Lusa.

Tiago Botelho also indicated that "only two surgeries" were canceled, out of a total of seven scheduled for the morning shift, meaning the impact of the strike was even less than others already carried out in the region.

“It seems to me that we have had strike days with much higher participation rates,” compared Tiago Botelho, insisting that the impact was “quite minimal in relation to the functioning of services.”

Tiago Botelho acknowledged that calling the strike for a Thursday may have "dissuaded some people" from joining the strike, but said he hoped, above all, that workers had "realized that, in fact, the strike was unjustified, from a fundamental point of view."

Previously, the president of the Algarve ULS had already told Lusa that he did not understand the reasons given for the strike, which had, at its origin, union structures acting for political reasons and whose demands “make no sense”.

The strike ends at midnight.