1 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama The cooperation model SEP and SERAM the Union’s point of view Autor(es)

2 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW Possibly because of the socio-political situation in Portugal before 1974, unions and professional associations have always been aware of their important role in the development of nursing.

3 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW In 1973, the 1st Nurses Congress was organised by the Unions, which had only a regional representation at the time, and by two associations, the APE – Associação Portuguesa de Enfermeiros – and the ACEPS – Associação Católica de Enfermeiros Portugueses.

4 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW The Congress established four objectives: the establishment of a single professional career. the creation of a professional status. the creation of a first-degree nursing course. the creation of the Portuguese Nurses Association (Ordem)

5 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW These four objectives, were achieved in the following 15 years: in 1981, a unique career for the Portuguese nurses, in 1988, the creation of a first-degree nursing course, in1996, the professional status and, finally, in 1998, the creation of the Portuguese Nurses Association (Ordem).

6 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW The Sindicato dos Enfermeiros Portugueses - SEP and the Sindicato dos Enfermeiros da Região Autónoma da Madeira - SERAM are the two only unions that are members of FNOPE.

7 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW Until 1998, SEP was the nursing organisation with more associates in Portugal. Nevertheless, our participation in the international decision-making was insignificant and there was not much dissemination of ICN directives on socio-economic issues as well as on working conditions.

8 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW With the creation of the Ordem dos Enfermeiros an important space of discussion between Portuguese organisations was created. Consequently, this opened the debate of how the Portuguese nursing organisations should participate in the international scene.

9 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW The evaluation of the work of these last three years is, as a whole, very positive in spite of the fact that there is still much work to be done.

10 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW Within the European context this problem is particularly sensitive. The policies of worsening the working conditions, diminishing the importance of work and dismantling of the national health services, are some of the major problems we are facing today. This political strategy questions the rights of the nurses and, consequently, worsens the care we provide to people in general.

11 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW This new reality of unemployment is, for the SEP and SERAM, one of the strategies to undervalue the importance of the nurse’s role. For the first time ever, we have nurses who look for a vacancy to work without receiving wages. For the economic groups, that have been creating more private health institutions, the situation couldn’t be more favourable: they hire high qualified staff for the lowest wages.

12 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW The significant mobilization of the Portuguese nurses in the last general meeting of the OE, held in 19 May, when about 1000 voted in favour of the introduction of new professional regulation, supports this optimistic view. Although a long journey, we are confident we have made a significant move.

13 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW Since this is the Portuguese context and since we believe the nursing profession can still progress in accordance to what we believe to be the best solutions both for nurses and for the population, we consider this as the best cooperation model to achieve the improvement of results.

14 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW The economic difficulties of some of the member organisations of FNOPE are sometimes a problem, as well as the instability of their leadership. We need to rethink a new strategy to be able to deal more efficiently in terms of analysing and answering every request and disseminate that information internally.

15 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW In 2008, FNOPE will review its internal regulations and we hope that, the experience acquired during these four years will help introduce new rules which will allow us continue developing this line of work

16 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama COLABORATION MODEL – UNION’S POINT OF VIEW SEP e SERAM have the conviction that this new look at the international issues will improve and strengthen our negotiation position with the official authorities in the defence of better work and life conditions for the Portuguese nurses.

17 O r d e m dos E n f e r m e i r o s P ortugal ICN Conference 2007 Yokohama Thank you The cooperation model SEP and SERAM the Union’s point of view