Over 80 percent of physicians are refusing additional on-call shifts, an opinion poll carried out by the Sanitary Solidarity trade union shows, TVR informs. According to the new labour contracts, starting on August 1, these additional on-call shifts should be paid separately only if the hospitals have the necessary funds in their budgets.
The opinion poll was carried out on a sample of 1,000 physicians who work on-call shifts, from July 31 to August 2.
Thus, 87 percent of the physicians who work on-call shifts have refused or intend to refuse to sign the individual labour contracts unless their demands are met.
Moreover, the opinion poll shows, only around 10 percent of physicians stated that they were asked to sign an individual labour contract for additional on-call shifts.
Around 73 percent of the physicians who were asked to sign such contracts refused to do so, despite the pressure exerted by some hospital managers, Sanitary Solidarity claims.
The survey also shows that 6.2 percent of physicians stated they are pressured into signing the individual labour contracts. The physicians are asking for a bonus of 25-75 percent for additional on-call shifts and the right to be exempted from working continuously for more than 24 hours.
Physicians complain that the payment for on-call shifts is based on the 2009 salary level. They want the reference salary level used to be the 2016 salary level that came into force through a government ordinance that amended the salary grids. 6 percent of physicians state hospital managers subjected them to pressures in order to sign the contracts, according to Jurnalul.ro.
The Sanitary Solidarity Federation wants individual labour contracts that feature additional on-call shifts to include the right to a bonus of 25-75 percent; the right to all bonuses related to labour conditions and to the night shift bonus; the right to days off for individual labour contracts pertaining to additional on-call shifts; the right not to work continuously for more than 24 hours; the right to have at least 24 hours of time off after an on-call shift. The Health Ministry responded by saying that additional on-call shifts will be paid in line with the current legislation.
