Everything began with a two-hour warning strike announced before the holidays. Yesterday, Thursday, employees of the Provincial Hospital for the Nervously and Mentally Ill in Bolesławiec once again left their patients’ beds. "We want a PLN 700 pay rise, but we were offered 10%, or approximately PLN 140," Wioleta Torończak, chairwoman of the Nurses’ and Midwives’ Trade Union, told Boleslawiec.org / IstotneInformacje.pl.
Currently, qualified nurses at the provincial hospital earn an average of approximately PLN 1,300 net. They received a pay rise in January, but it was small.
The nurses justify their demands by pointing out that the marshal’s office, which owns the psychiatric hospital, requires them to continually improve their qualifications. The nurses do attend training courses. However, they pay for them themselves and are forced to further their education in their free time.
Regina Kojder, acting director of the psychiatric hospital in Bolesławiec, claims that there is no money for pay rises. The nurses warn that if the protests do not produce the desired result, an ongoing strike will be announced.
Update 2008-03-28 11:23
“Good news for patients and their families. The mediation I conducted ended successfully,” Piotr Borys, deputy marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, told Boleslawiec.org/IstotneInformacje.pl. – “We want the nursing community to earn decent wages, but only to the extent the hospital and the entire system can afford.”
The voivodeship authorities emphasize that they are aware that psychiatry throughout Poland is underfunded. Talks with the National Health Fund are ongoing. Nurses at the provincial hospital were promised a PLN 300 pay rise from March 1, followed by another PLN 75 from May 1.
“Our demands have not been fully met,” Wioleta Torończak told us today. – “But the marshal’s guarantees were presented in a reliable manner.” It was agreed that all the nurses’ expectations would be met gradually.
From January 1, the nurses are to earn PLN 2,400. Why did the nurses agree to make concessions? “We are aware that we must take the situation at the hospital into account,” Wioleta Torończak added.
(GA/KG report)