Sanitas Confirms General Strike: Nearly 400 Hospitals to Join Protest, Emergency Services to Remain Operational

The Sanitas Federation has confirmed that the general strike announced by the union will begin on Tuesday across approximately 400 healthcare facilities throughout the country. The announcement was made on Monday, on Digi24, by the federation's president, Iulian Pope, who emphasised that the strike is a certainty.

"Today we are holding a meeting simply to organise the strike — not a meeting to decide whether or not it will take place. It is an organisational meeting, to brief our colleagues who are managing the local strike committees, and also to hear about any difficulties they may be encountering in organising tomorrow's protest action," said Pope.

The union leader maintains that the Government was notified of the intention to hold a strike as far back as June, yet no official response or meaningful negotiations followed. "We first notified the Government of this action on 5 June. We followed up with another notification after 20 days. This is not new. The Government should have been aware. They did not respond to us in any way — not even in writing. They did not call us to any serious negotiations. Only Minister Pîslaru did, in fairness, invite us to negotiate, and that was only after the Bucharest Court of Appeal's ruling. That is the main reason we declined. We were to have just one meeting with Mr Pîslaru, and even that was scheduled rather late," Pope explained.

Regarding the impact of the strike on patients, the Sanitas president assured the public that emergency services will continue to operate. "Emergency services will be maintained. We have been saying this for two months. We will endeavour to cause as little inconvenience as possible to patients, as we always do. But everyone must understand that this Government has brought us to this point. It is not our fault — not the fault of the workers," he added.

Grievances over the pay legislation

Iulian Pope reiterated that the Sanitas Federation does not accept the current form of the draft pay legislation, warning that some employees will see their salaries reduced, and that more than half of all workers will have their earnings frozen.

"There are a significant number of employees who will suffer actual income losses from 1 January, if the law is applied in its current form. But there are very many — more than half — whose incomes will be frozen. We are taking at face value what the Government tells us about compensatory payments being made available. This year alone we have double-digit inflation. There have been no pay rises for the healthcare sector in 2025, and there will be none for the next five years. We cannot accept a continuity allowance of 10%, or 30% as in the latest version. That is far too little. Across Europe, this rate uplift is 100%, and sometimes even higher," the union leader stated.

Another key demand from the union concerns the unfreezing of vacant posts within the healthcare system. Iulian Pope welcomed an amendment approved on Monday by the Health Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, which removes the requirement for a memorandum in order to fill these posts, and expressed his gratitude to the parliamentarians seeking solutions to a long-standing problem.