Florin Manole (PSD): the new healthcare pay legislation must not reduce employees' salaries

The former Minister of Labour, Florin Manole (PSD), has responded following Friday's presentation at Cotroceni Palace of the proposed new unified pay legislation for the Health sector, an initiative put forward by the current minister, Dragoș Pîslaru.

Manole stated that the Social Democrats would carefully examine the newly proposed pay coefficients alongside the trade unions. The party's primary concern is to ensure that healthcare workers' earnings do not decrease once the new pay scale comes into force.

Focus on post-secondary medical assistants

The PSD representative explained that the party's attention is directed particularly towards staff categories with a direct impact on patients, such as medical assistants with post-secondary qualifications.

Although the coefficients in the new draft appear satisfactory at first glance, Manole cautioned that they must be rigorously cross-referenced with base salaries and the full range of existing allowances within the health system. The former minister announced that technical calculations on this matter would be carried out as a matter of urgency.

"All of these correlations must lead us to the conclusion that these people will not lose income as a result of this legislation but, to the extent that budgetary resources allow, that we achieve some increases," Manole stated.

Previous version had been agreed with trade unions

Manole emphasised the importance of maintaining close dialogue with social partners. Referring to the pay grading coefficients for 2026, he recalled that the previous version of the legislation had been agreed with the trade unions, and assured that the new document would be assessed in the same spirit of collaboration.

"Our position at the conclusion of all these discussions will not differ from that of the trade unions — we will move forward together, because our objective is to ensure that no one is treated unjustly," the former Minister of Labour added.