The Trilateral Team on Health Care only worked in full session on Tuesday for half an hour. Trade unions, outraged by the absence of a finance ministry representative, left the session, which, however, was not broken up - the employers' organizations remained at the table.
Salaries: unionists walked out of talks
Published Nov. 18, 2025 15:59
Fot. Thinkstock / Getty Images
The social side called more than a week ago for a representative of the Finance Ministry to participate in the Team's talks on November 18. The appeal followed talks between the Health and Finance Ministers, who agreed on November 7 that the NFZ could still count on an injection of PLN 3.5 billion this year. To be more specific - that they will take steps to ensure that such funds go to the Fund. The issue is the prepared amendment to the Medical Fund Act (on Wednesday it will be approved by the government and probably passed later this session of the Sejm, but whether it will come into force is unknown). The social side assesses that the ministers' findings are out of step with reality, because the gap is much larger, and this means that the real threat is that access to benefits will be limited in the last weeks of 2025. And that's what the unions and employers wanted to discuss with the Finance Ministry.
The unions did not manage to break off the session, as the employers' organizations - though also outraged by the Finance Ministry's absence - decided to stay at the table and present their position on the proposals lying on the table regarding changes in the rules for health care workers' compensation. Employers support, among other things, the postponement of the deadline for raises from July to January (starting in 2027, there would be no raises at all in 2026), as well as the direction taken, for example, regarding restrictions on the amount and formula of physician contracts. In this case, however - at the request of county hospital directors - they point out that the changes should be staggered and preceded by thorough analyses, otherwise they could threaten the functioning, and even the existence, of some entities.
Employers also signal that it is not possible, in their view, to raise the labor ratios for groups "5" and "6," the so-called "nursing" groups, all at once. While they agree that the differences between these groups and group "2" should be reduced, at the same time they indicate that this process too - in the current financial situation of the payer - should be staggered.
The Team is scheduled to hold its next meeting in early December.
