Doctors across Italy went on 24-hour strike on 16 December 2015 despite the government amending its budget for 2016 to allow for new doctors to be hired. The doctors’ unions say the government has reneged on its health budget plan for 2016, cutting more than €2 billion from a sum previously agreed on by regional and local administrations. They argue that the move would be detrimental to the quality of the health service. The government has presented an amendment bill, which will allow regional authorities to hire new medics on temporary contracts ahead of holding selection competitions for permanent hires from June 2016. Still, doctors have said this is only one of many issues the sector is facing and will persist with strike action in protest over the general condition of the health service.
English: http://www.thelocal.it/20151215/italys-doctors-to-strike-against-budget-cuts
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.