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SAY NO TO SOLUTION PROPOSALS: The President of the Norwegian Medical Association, Marit Hermansen, believes that they have done their best in mediation. She promises that a strike will not endanger life and health. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB
The Norwegian Medical Association and KS did not reach an agreement with the Ombudsman on Thursday night. Now a strike is scheduled to start on October 26.
The core of the disagreement between doctors and the municipal sector is the special agreement, which regulates outpatient care, community medicine and the working conditions of newly graduated doctors.
Background: It can be an extensive medical strike
In particular, the Norwegian Medical Association has emphasized that the workload of doctors in the emergency department is too great and that this affects both the general practitioner scheme and the emergency department. Therefore, they will have restrictions on the amount of work that can be imposed on them in the emergency room.
– The pandemic has nothing to do with these negotiations. What we have not achieved in these negotiations has been a disagreement between KS and the Norwegian Medical Association for a long time. Municipalities can impose unlimited shifts beyond full working hours, Norwegian Medical Association President Marit Hermansen tells VG, adding:
– Now the workload in many of the small emergency rooms is so high that it is no longer justifiable. The workload has increased for the entire health service during the pandemic. For GPs, it’s been high for a long time, and the ER adds up to a full workweek.
– I have no choice
The interruption of medical mediation may affect municipal emergency services across the country in the coming weeks, NTB writes. The academics, to which the Norwegian Medical Association is affiliated, have not yet announced how many they will take out in a possible first attack.
– The withdrawal of the strike will be reported no later than four working days before October 26, Hermansen tells VG.
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In addition, he says that it has been a demanding mediation and that they have worked hard to find a possible solution.
– It has been a difficult mediation, and both parties have spent time, but we have not been able to reach an agreement. We will do everything possible to prevent a third party from being affected by a dispute. We are very aware of the very serious situation in which the country finds itself. At the same time, it is difficult to take health workers on strike without being noticed, but we will do our best not to affect a third party.
In a press release, he says that a strike will not endanger life and health. For VG, she points out that it is still possible to avoid a strike.
– The parties can sit down again at any time, and nothing is more desirable than there is an initiative that allows an agreement to be reached without conflict. But now we feel we have no other choice, it is a very difficult situation.
INSPONSIBLE WORK: Tor Magne Johnsen from the Association of General Practitioners participates in the negotiations. On Wednesday he told VG that the medical crisis in the districts will not be resolved if nothing happens with the workload. Photo: Therese Alice Sanne, VG
KS: – Sorry and disappointing.
It was not only the Norwegian Medical Association that negotiated with KS until the hours of Wednesday night, but all the Academicians, of which the Norwegian Medical Association is a part.
The negotiations had a response time of midnight, but it was measured overtime.
The academics write in a press release that they have decided to recommend the KS offering. Its member associations must take a position on the Ombudsman’s proposal for a solution before October 23 at 3:00 p.m., and the Norwegian Medical Association has already announced that they do not accept this proposal.
– The parties have taken responsibility in a very demanding situation for Norway and the Norwegian municipalities and county municipalities, characterized by financial uncertainty as a result of the ongoing pandemic. And then it is regrettable and disappointing that the Norwegian Medical Association is not part of the solution, says KS chief negotiator, director of working life Tor Arne Gangsø in a press release.
NEGOTIATING LEADER: Tor Arne Gangsø is the negotiating leader for the municipal sector (KS). Photo: Berit Roald / NTB
KS believes that emergency room requirements for physicians would put the entire plan at risk.
– We have proposed studying whether doctors should be covered by the same protection provisions as the rest of the municipality’s employees. The Medical Association has also rejected it. So we just have to say that the Norwegian Medical Association this time has chosen to say no to all the solutions that KS has been able to get into. We apologize for that, Gangsø says in the press release.
The Norwegian Medical Association, for its part, believes that KS has not accepted what it believes are the necessary measures to ensure the protection of doctors against unlimited work in the emergency room.
