site.btaHealthcare Employers Refuse to Negotiate New Collective Labour Agreement, Hospitals Want Analysis, Reasons for New Wages

The employers' organisations in the health sector refuse to negotiate a new collective labour agreement in the sector, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) said on Tuesday. The employers' organisations are represented by the National Association of Municipal Hospitals in Bulgaria, the National Association of Private Hospitals, the Association of University Hospitals and the Bulgarian Hospital Association.

A meeting of the Council for Tripartite Cooperation in Healthcare was scheduled for Tuesday. The previous meeting, which was scheduled for April 10, did not take place due to the absence of the employers' organisations, CITUB said. The refusal leads to violation of the Health Insurance Act, the Medical Institutions Act and the National Framework Agreement, and harms all health care workers.

The trade union appealed to the Minister of Health and the Chairman of the Council for Tripartite Cooperation in Health to take measures to restore social dialogue and sign the agreement in the health sector. If necessary, CITUB will seek assistance from the Prime Minister and from the international organizations of which it is a member, the union added.

“We did not attend the two meetings - on April 10 and today - because at the end of March we asked CITUB and the Confederation of Labour "Podkrepa" to have a common opinion, to provide us with an analysis of the implementation of the previous collective labour agreement, to keep strict minutes of the meetings, which should be provided to each participant in it, we also asked for reasons and an impact assessment of the proposed new levels of basic salaries in the draft agreement,” Dr. Nedelcho Totev, chairman of the National Association of Municipal Hospitals in Bulgaria, told BTA. In his words, to restore social dialogue, these proposals must be respected. At the last meeting of the Tripartite Council in Health, the Ministry pointed out that out of over 180 state and municipal hospitals, just over 40 have managed to reach the basic salaries set in the current agreement, Dr. Totev added. According to him, the increase in the values of clinical pathways is on average 8-10% and the envisaged increase in the new basic salaries in the draft is 25-30%, he added. This opinion is shared by the Association of University Hospitals, Dr. Totev pointed out.

The reasons for the proposed increases in basic salaries were not supported by data for the past period, according to lawyer Svilena Dimitrova, Chair of the Bulgarian Hospital Association. In her words, such responsible decisions cannot be made if there is no analysis. “At a previous meeting of the Council we asked the Ministry of Health for an analysis and impact assessment, but they have not yet been presented to us,” Dimitrova said, adding that hospitals have a specific way of working, funding is by clinical pathways and resources are limited. “This is not a boycott, we are just waiting for the analysis from the Ministry of Health,” she explained.