BNS Supports the Healthcare Strike, Calls on the Government to Suspend the Pay Law

The National Trade Union Bloc (BNS) has expressed its solidarity with healthcare workers and members of the Sanitas Federation who have launched a general strike. The trade union organisation is calling on the Government to suspend the draft pay legislation and resume dialogue with the trade unions.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the BNS explained that the strike was triggered by the lack of genuine social dialogue and by the intention to push through a pay law that disregards the legitimate demands of public sector employees. The union stressed that the right to strike is a fundamental right of workers, exercised as a last resort when all other forms of dialogue have failed.

„The decision taken by our colleagues in healthcare is a legitimate one and reflects the profound dissatisfaction generated by a piece of legislation drafted without genuine consultation with representative trade union organisations," the BNS statement reads. The unionists also warned that pay reform in the public sector cannot be achieved through arbitrary changes to grading coefficients or by reducing already-acquired pay entitlements, but must instead uphold principles of fairness and predictability for all employees, regardless of their field of work.

The BNS is calling on the authorities to halt the advancement of the current draft law and to restart the legislative process through genuine, transparent, and responsible social dialogue, together with trade union confederations and representative federations from the affected sectors.

„Solidarity between trade union organisations is essential at a time when workers' rights are under pressure," BNS representatives added, emphasising that public policies affecting hundreds of thousands of employees cannot be adopted without consultation and without respect for social dialogue.

The union stated that it will continue to support all legitimate efforts to protect workers' incomes, their dignity at work, and a fair and equitable pay system.