At the Nowogrodziec SP ZOZ, a protest action began on Monday, May 20. The physiotherapists—all 100 percent of the staff (that is, six people)—did not come to work today; they are on sick leave. “Since May, we have been fighting for a pay rise, which was to some extent promised to physiotherapists and medical diagnosticians by the Minister of Health in March 2019,” explains our Reader.
And she immediately emphasizes: “This is not a strike. It is a form of fighting for dignity and respect. Everyone wants to earn a decent living. The work of a physiotherapist is unique, and that is why we are here. We are not proud of how the situation has developed. But we are, after all, an indispensable part of the team caring for sick patients—we too rejoice in their successes every day and experience their failures.
As our interviewee says, the first tranche of money from the Ministry of Health was received by, among others, nurses, paramedics and doctors; the second was supposed to go to mid-level medical staff. According to information from the National Trade Union of Physiotherapy Workers, Minister Łukasz Szumowski has already transferred these funds to hospitals.
Last week, the physiotherapists entered negotiations with the director of the Nowogrodziec facility, Robert Adaszewski: they requested a pay rise. “The director told us that there were no such funds,” the Reader reports. “If a therapist with experience earns PLN 2,100, that speaks for itself. We know how much work we put into each patient. The profession requires constantly updating our knowledge and learning new methods so that we can help even more effectively. We are simply very saddened.
“The employees informed me of their absence. This is a way of joining the nationwide protest by physiotherapists in connection with this professional group being left out of pay increases,” istotne.pl was told by Robert Adaszewski, director of the SP ZOZ in Nowogrodziec. “Formally, there are no trade unions operating at our facility; no collective dispute has been initiated.
The director emphasizes:
I know the employees’ expectations, but I do not think there is an employer in healthcare who has noticed the money that Minister of Health Łukasz Szumowski spoke about on May 8 and to which the physiotherapists refer. What is more, we are not a hospital; we provide two services in the area of long-term care, and the increase in the valuation of services provided by hospitals does not apply to us. This year, the prices of the services we provide involving physiotherapists have not increased.
The head of the facility adds:
I hope this problem will be resolved at the national level soon. I understand my employees’ demands; I believe they are right. However, I cannot meet their expectations without systemic solutions.
How long will the protest action last? It is not known at present. We will return to the matter.
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