SANITAS Announces General Strike in Healthcare from 28 July: What Are the Union Members Demanding

The SANITAS Federation has announced the launch of a general strike in the healthcare system, in response to the Government's economic and social policies. The union argues that the measures adopted have severely affected the incomes and rights of health and social care staff.

The Federation's National Council convened in an extraordinary session on 7 July 2026 and resolved to declare a strike across the entire "Health" collective bargaining sector, encompassing all healthcare units in the country. The decision was taken after the Government failed to respond to the notification sent by SANITAS (ref. no. 16851/11.06.2026) and after the statutory minimum notice period of 10 days, as stipulated under Article 155, paragraph (4) of Law no. 367/2022 on social dialogue, had elapsed.

What grievances the union members cite

SANITAS attributes the deterioration of employees' incomes to several pieces of legislation and government decisions:

• Emergency Ordinance no. 7/2026, which exempted only some public healthcare units from personnel expenditure cuts;
• Emergency Ordinance no. 36/2025, which reduced allowances for hazardous or harmful working conditions, as well as additional annual leave days;
• Law no. 141/2025, which made the meal allowance and holiday vouchers conditional on net salary level;
• The draft law on pay for publicly funded staff, which the union considers deeply inequitable for healthcare public sector employees and which was drawn up without following proper social dialogue procedures;
• The Government's public policy as implemented through the Medium-Term Budgetary-Structural Plan (MTBSP) 2025–2031.

What the SANITAS Federation is demanding

• Restoration of the salary rights established under Collective Labour Agreement no. 1480/11.09.2023, which were affected by Emergency Ordinance no. 7/2026;
• Withdrawal of the reductions to allowances and additional leave days imposed by Emergency Ordinance no. 36/2025;
• Payment of the meal allowance and holiday vouchers without discrimination, regardless of the cap introduced by Law no. 141/2025;
• Regarding the pay legislation: the resumption of genuine dialogue with the authorities, the establishment of appropriate pay coefficients for health and social care staff, the retention of the shift allowance at 15%, the maintenance of the 100% supplement for work at weekends and on public holidays, the reinstatement of the working conditions allowance, the inclusion of administrative and support staff (TESA) in the same pay schedule, and the alignment of social care salaries with those in the non-clinical healthcare sector.

According to the announced timetable, a warning strike will take place on 20 July 2026, between 09:00 and 11:00, followed by the launch of the general strike on 28 July 2026.

"SANITAS reaffirms that this decision is the direct consequence of the Government's failure to respond and engage in dialogue, and warns of the repercussions that the continuation of these policies will have on the healthcare system and on the Federation's nearly 100,000 members," the union's representatives stated.