Romanian healthcare strike to start Tuesday; 400 hospitals affected, emergency care guaranteed

Romania's Federation of Sanitas is set to begin an indefinite general strike on Tuesday, the first day of a protest that will affect approximately 400 public hospitals nationwide. The walkout follows months of fruitless negotiations with the interim government of Ilie Bolojan over a new salary law, frozen hiring, and what the union calls a refusal to engage in genuine dialogue.

The grievances behind the strike

Sanitas says the primary demand is to unblock thousands of vacant posts. Viorel Hușanu, head of the Sanitas Bucharest union, told Libertatea that the system needs 57,000 additional staff to meet minimum staffing norms. Hospitals, he said, urgently require 30,000 people, yet the government has unblocked only 2,200 positions, far short of the 7,800 the Ministry of Health proposed. The union also opposes a draft salary law that it believes will cut incomes. Iulian Pope, Sanitas president, said the government was first notified of the strike on 5 June and received a second notice 20 days later. "Nu ne-a răspuns în niciun fel, nici măcar în scris," he told Digi24, meaning the government did not reply at all, not even in writing.

What patients can expect

Under Romanian law, even during a general strike hospitals must guarantee emergency services and at least one-third of regular activity. Managers of major Bucharest hospitals confirmed that accident and emergency units, operating theatres, and intensive care will remain fully staffed. Bogdan Zidaru, director of the Floreasca Emergency Hospital, said only chronic patients in non-critical condition might be postponed for a day or two. Andi Nodiț, manager of the Bagdasar-Arseni Clinical Emergency Hospital, explained that its burn unit and emergency departments would not be affected. The Constanța County Emergency Hospital will also join the strike but will maintain essential services.

Va fi grevă, este dreptul angajaților și nu avem cum să contracarăm această situație. Dar sperăm să se termine cât mai repede și să tratăm toți pacienții, de asta suntem aici.

Intimidation claims on the eve of the walkout

On Monday, Sanitas accused several hospital managements of pressuring employees by compiling lists of those who signed up for the strike with the intent to suspend their labour contracts before the protest even began. The federation invoked the Social Dialogue Law (367/2022) and a 5 May 2025 High Court decision, both stating that a contract can be suspended only during actual participation in a strike, never in advance. Pope condemned the tactic, saying it was designed to intimidate workers. "Nu veți opri greva prin intimidare!" he declared, promising the action would go ahead as planned.

Dreptul la grevă este un drept legal. Exercitarea lui nu poate fi transformată într-un motiv de amenințare, presiune sau intimidare.

Last-ditch talks fail

A meeting convened at Cotroceni Palace on Monday afternoon with presidential counselor Radu Burnete yielded no breakthrough. Pope said later that nothing had been nailed down and that he would simply relay the state of the talks to the union's National Council, without recommending a suspension. Bogdan Hossu, leader of the Cartel Alfa confederation, told Antena 3 CNN that the unions learned only on Friday that the salary bill had not been included in the legislative package sent to Parliament that week, which made it impossible to call off the strike in time. The government, for its part, has pointed to the memorandum unblocking 7,805 posts as a sign of goodwill. For the 400 hospitals where a third of the workforce will down tools, however, Tuesday marks the start of an open-ended test of both labour law and the public health system's resilience.