INEM workers announce strikes in Portugal over emergency service reorganization

Workers at the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) in Portugal have announced two days of strikes scheduled for September 14 and 28. The industrial action was decided during an extraordinary general assembly of the workers' commission.

The strike, organized by the Union of Pre-Hospital Emergency Technicians (STEPH), is a protest against a reorganization of the national emergency medical device. Specifically, workers are contesting the transfer of management for 54 medical emergency ambulances from INEM to Local Health Units (ULS), which places them under hospital jurisdiction.

Additionally, technicians are protesting the decision to convert 46 Immediate Life Support vehicles into light emergency vehicles. STEPH president Rui Lázaro stated that the strike is not motivated by labor or salary issues, but rather by what he describes as the “dismantling” of INEM and the potential consequences for citizen safety.