Estonian medics' pay rise stalled over failed collective agreement
Xinhua, February 18, 2017 Adjust font size:
Talks between Estonia's medical professionals and the Health Insurance Fund reached an impasse on Friday after medics refused to sign a collective agreement before getting a promised pay increase, local media reported.
The board of the Health Insurance Fund gave the organizations representing medical professionals and hospitals one month to conclude the agreement, saying that the issue would be addressed again in mid-March, Baltic News Service quoted the fund's representative Katrin Romanenkov as saying.
On Thursday, the organization of Estonian medics and hospitals reached an agreement on a pay increase without signing the collective agreement.
Katrin Rehemaa, secretary general of the Estonian Medical Association, explained that the medics' organizations would not sign the collective agreement as long as they had no guarantees and assurances from the government.
The Health Insurance Fund has earmarked 23.6 million euros (25.05 million U.S. dollars) for medics' pay raise this year.
Estonian Health and Labor Minister Jevgeni Ossinovski, however, stated earlier this month that to get the pay raise the medics had to sign the collective agreement first.
The Health Insurance Fund continued debating Friday whether and how to go ahead with the medics' pay increase, scheduled for April 1. Enditem