On Tuesday, the medical unions and the government continued negotiations on salaries, which the Minister of Health Danijel Bešič Loredan wants to finish by the end of the month. In December, he expects the start of negotiations on the health pillar in the unified salary system. In the Union of Doctors and Dentists of Slovenia Fides, they were restrained after the meeting, and on Tuesday afternoon the main strike committee met. As stated in the press release by Fides, the committee was informed of the progress of the negotiations and the results of the survey conducted among the union’s membership in recent days.

According to Fides’ negotiating team, the negotiations are at a standstill, as the government’s offer has been practically unchanged for the past month, and the government side has not made any serious approximation proposals in search of solutions for a smooth work process within the medical teams in the public health system. According to Fides, the union’s negotiating team presented the government side with a conciliatory proposal at Tuesday’s negotiations, which is constructive and, in their opinion, represents a big step towards a quick and effective solution to the key issues that are currently open and subject to negotiations. Fides did not explain what approximation proposal they presented.

“Given that it is about solving acute problems in the public health system, which should be the government’s priority, the medical profession considers the government’s excuse about limited financial resources to be unacceptable,” they wrote down. The results of a survey conducted among the membership indicate a great dissatisfaction of the medical profession with the situation in which they currently find themselves. The salary pillar in healthcare remains an important long-term goal, but short-term solutions for current salary disparities must be found immediately, without creating new anomalies within the career path of doctors and dentists, they emphasize. The survey also gives a clear message – if an agreement is not reached by next Tuesday, the membership unanimously expects a tightening of union activities, they wrote.

Unofficially, four additional classes for young people and 12 percent more for the highest paid

On Tuesday, the minister did not want to talk about the details of the government’s offer. According to unofficial information, the government offers, among other things, an additional four salary classes for doctors at the beginning of their career path, which include doctors without specialization after secondary education, those without specialization with a license, doctors with secondary education and specialists.

The salaries of the highest-ranking specialist doctors and dentists would be increased by 12 percent. They also included new positions created by the amendment to the Medical Service Act, such as non-specialist doctors with a basic license, who would start in the 41st pay grade.

Negotiations on the collective agreement for doctors and dentists will continue next week with representative trade unions and government representatives.