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The Committee notes the Government’s reply to the comments made earlier by the Union of Health Professionals (TEHY) alleging subordination of nursing services to medical activity, insufficient wages, non-equality of payment between men and women, lay-offs and retrenchments within the health-care system and the negative impact these factors produce in the employment relationships of the nursing sector. The Government recognizes that the proportion of personnel that find their work somewhat or entirely stressful is higher in the nursing sector than in other sectors and refers in this respect to the higher number of sick leave days per year observed in the municipal sector in general. The Government indicates, however, that efforts are made to help personnel in the municipal sector cope with their work such as the preparation of a handbook on municipality management and a brochure on coping at work designed specifically for health-care workers. In addition, the Government, while recognizing that there are in practice a large number of temporary substitutions in this sector arising from the fact that most personnel are women and use a lot of statutory childcare leave, job alternation leave and study leave, reports that fixed-term posts have been made permanent on a large scale especially in health care. Finally, the Government notes that there are no major differences between men’s and women’s pay levels in the sector unless what was meant by inequality of pay in TEHY’s comments was that men in male-dominated fields such as engineering may well earn more than nurses under the terms of their collective agreements. The Committee notes the Government’s explanations but wishes to receive more concrete information on the extent of lay-offs and retrenchments operated in health care, and the measures taken or envisaged to fight precariousness and promote employment stability of nursing personnel. In relation to the comments on alleged wage differentials between men and women in the sector, the Committee will examine this issue at its next session under Convention No. 100.

The Committee is also addressing a direct request to the Government on certain points.