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Industrial Relations in the Health Care Sector
Industrial Relations in the Health Care Sector
Published on Feb. 14, 2011 in Journal articles
Slovakia: Industrial Relations in the Health Care Sector, European industrial relations observatory online
Slovak healthcare underwent major reforms during the period 1998–2006, including deregulation and decentralization of healthcare providers. Reforms produced discrepancies in pay and working conditions across university hospitals, smaller public hospitals, public care homes and private healthcare providers, which remains the main challenge in the sector together with migration and labour shortages. Social partners address the above challenges in multi-employer and single-employer bargaining. Despite relevant collectively agreed wage increases in the past five years, trade unions and smaller healthcare providers continue in their efforts to decrease the pay gap and labour shortages of nurses and care personnel.