RIGA, Oct 6 (LETA) - The Latvian Trade Union of Health and Social Care Employees is dissatisfied with the failure to increase budget funding for healthcare employees' salaries and as a result may express no confidence in Health Minister Hosams Abu Meri (New Unity), the union informed LETA.

The Union of Health and Social Care Employees will decide on its next steps at a meeting of the union's council on October 21.

As reported, the union wants wages raised 13.5 percent for medical employees and EUR 120 for support staff next year. This would require an additional EUR 133 million from the state budget.

According to the Union of Health and Social Care Employees, during the first conciliation commission's meeting the union urged the Health Ministry to ask the Cabinet of Ministers to allot additional funding for healthcare and proposed to postpone further talks until the government's response was received.

However, at the second meeting of the commission, the Health Ministry said it would not submit such a request to the government. Instead, the ministry proposed that it and the Union of Health and Social Care Employees jointly submit a request for a salary hike when work begins on the 2027 state budget (in 2026), provided that this is not prohibited by the government, the union explained.

According to the Union of Health and Social Care Employees, it cannot agree to such a "generous" offer, which is why no agreement was reached between the two sides.

The Union of Health and Social Care Employees points out that the Health Ministry is ignoring the fact that the European Commission this year recommended Latvia to ensure a significant increase in public funding not only for defense but also for healthcare in order to promote competitiveness, sustainability, and social justice.

The union has therefore concluded that the Health Ministry's "unforgivably incompetent attitude toward strengthening public healthcare will not only worsen public health but also pose threat to viability of the state."

The union points out that neither this year nor in 2026 does the state plan to raise salaries for healthcare employees, even though the sector's competitiveness has already fallen back to 2020 levels. This, the union warns, threatens to accelerate the outflow of professionals from the public sector in a situation where such professionals already are in critically low supply.

As reported, the Union of Health and Social Care Employees (LVSADA) has once again failed to reach agreement with the Health Ministry on wage increases for healthcare employees after a second meeting of the reconciliation commission last week, the union’s deputy chairwoman Liga Barina told LETA.

According to Barina, further reconciliation talks with the Health Ministry are no longer planned. The next LVSADA council meeting, at which the union will decide further action, is scheduled for October 21.

The Health Ministry's representative Barbara Alite told LETA that, during the talks, the ministry had proposed looking for solutions to increase healthcare employees' wages in 2027, taking into account the budget structuring process and the existing priorities.

According to the Health Ministry, the two sides did not agree to use the dispute settlement method provided for by law. The union informed the ministry that it would exercise its right to defend its collective interests.

The ministry acknowledged the seriousness of the current situation in healthcare, especially the shortage of nurses, and emphasized that pay raises were an important factor in retaining and attracting specialists to work in the public sector, providing state-funded healthcare services.

LETA also reported, initially the trade union demanded a 15 percent pay increase for medical employees and a EUR 140 pay rise for support staff.

Later, the pay rise demands were scaled down to 13.5 percent for medical employees and EUR 133 for support staff.

Health Minister Hosams Abu Meri (New Unity) said that the union's demand for an extra EUR 133 million for the salaries of medical staff does not seem realistic at the moment.

Extra EUR 34.5 million has been earmarked for health care in the 2025 state budget, most of which will go to the development of maternal and child care.