With the strike, the union of personal assistants draws attention to the worsening working conditions of employees in this activity. They also require sufficient funding for activities. Labor Minister Luka Mesec said that he understands their strike and supports it in some way.
At 11 a.m., they gathered in front of the Ministry of Labor for a protest rally.
The union’s strike demands are also to ensure the protection of rights and position of personal assistants and assistants in the case of supervision of individual providers of personal assistance, if they are identified as alleged violators, immediate cessation of pressure from the Ministry of Labor regarding the use applications personal assistance and finding a more suitable solution for recording hours and paying a strike.
Many employers reduce workers’ rights, such as vacation and supplements, warns the union. According to the trade union, the rules on personal assistance adopted by the previous government deregulated workers’ rights, and the current government continues this practice. The hourly price of the service allocated by the ministry for personal assistance is 15 euros. To be able to provide volume and the quality of services and the rights of assistants at the pre-inflation level and dear, according to the union, the price of an hour of service should be at least 16.64 euros.
Minister Mesec: I understand the strike of personal assistants and I support
Minister of Labour, Family and Social Affairs and equal opportunities Port Moon said at today’s press conference about the strike: “I understand the personal assistants’ strike and I also support her in a way. I met with the union just over a week ago. We agreed that it would be necessary to prepare standards and norms, we will assist in concluding a collective agreement. It should be known that the work of a personal assistant is difficult – both mentally and physically. They are all on minimum wage and now that we are renovating the personal assistance system, the position of personal assistants will also have to be addressed. It’s good that they drew attention to their position publicly.”
Strike from midnight to 10 p.m
The strike lasts from midnight to 10 p.m., and at 11 a.m. the beneficiaries of personal assistance and employees in this activity gathered at a protest rally in front of the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs and equal opportunities in Ljubljana. A larger number gathered with banners and shouts to the authorities, and especially to the Minister of Labor Luka Mescu, signaled that they had enough and that the current situation is unsustainable.
“Our strike demands are the minimum, the situation is unbearable and it’s only going to get worse,” a representative of the union of personal assistants warned in his address to the gathering Nenad H. Vitorović. According to the union, the only normal solution would be the transfer of personal assistance activities to the public sector, the establishment of a public institution and the end of the “wild west”, as Vitorović described the current situation.
Today’s strike is not directed so much against the employers, but above all against the authorities, i.e. the Ministry of Labour and finances, explained the president of the Free Trade Union of Slovenia (SSS) Mirsad Begic. “Today’s strike is a strike of personal assistants and assistants, as they are like direct contractors and the central human engine of our activity forgotten, pushed aside, ignored,” he emphasized.
Personal assistants Laura and Sabina they emphasized at the rally that it was physical and hard work for which they deserve to be paid fairly. At the same time, they called for fairer working conditions.
The user of personal assistance services is also convinced that personal assistants must be fairly paid for their work Alexander. By reducing the rights of personal assistants, the Ministry of Labor also reduces the rights of beneficiaries of personal assistance, he was clear.
Support strike and employees in personal assistance activities were also expressed at the meeting by representatives of the trade unions Glosa and Tuš and Zasuk and representatives of the Youth for Climate Justice movement.
Those gathered shouted and urged Minister Mesco to explain to them when they would be provided with sufficient funding. As Vitorović said, they were informed that the minister was not at the ministry at the time of the rally, as he was in the government premises on Gregorčičeva Street.
After the rally, the ministry announced again that they intend to financially malnutrition institutes after the amendment of the Act on Personal Assistance is prepared. They expressed their support for the trade union regarding the conclusion of a collective agreement in the field of personal assistance.
In the afternoon, there will also be an assembly of the union of personal assistants.
A proposal to the Constitutional Court for an assessment of the constitutionality of the regulation of personal assistance
On today’s day, when the personal assistants are on strike, the defender of the principle of equality announced that he has submitted a request to the Constitutional Court for an assessment of the constitutionality of the law on personal assistance. According to him, the law is discriminatorybecause it regulates the rights of people with disabilities based on their age, but at the same time the competent ministry did not follow the recommendation that this discrimination should be eliminated.
Beneficiaries of personal assistance, according to the definition of the law, are persons with disabilities aged 18 to 65 who need assistance in carrying out activities for independent personal and family life, integration into the environment, education and they need employment for at least 30 hours a week.
The defender of the principle of equality already said at the beginning of 2021 that this is the definition discriminatory. He made the decision based on the application of a person who applied for personal assistance a few months after turning 65. “During the evaluation process, counsel found no valid reason for denying the right to personal assistance to a certain age group of people with disabilities on the basis of age alone. He also found that there are no services comparable to personal assistance for over-65s Although these persons with disabilities can benefit from the institute of a family assistant or help for the family at home, these forms of assistance are less accessible and less extensive compared to personal assistance and more expensive for the user,” they wrote in a press release.
The revised Act on Personal Assistance in November 2021 did not take into account the advocate’s assessment, but in February this year he received a new proposal for a request for constitutionality assessment, in which the proposer cited the case of two equally seriously ill people who need comparable assistance services, but only because of the age difference between they receive various forms of assistance. A patient under the age of 65 is entitled to 24-hour personal assistance, while a patient over the age of 65 is only entitled to an assistance allowance and service.
Unequal treatment of persons with disabilities only because of age is unfounded and means discrimination in access to the right to personal assistance. The advocate therefore proposes to the Constitutional Court that, if the law is inconsistent with the Constitution, it should order the National Assembly to amend the law in which age restrictions will be excluded.
Source: Rtvslo
