“We are still collecting the data on the morning shift, which began at 8am, but as regards the nightshift there was 77% support with hospitals such as São José and Santa Marta in Lisbon seeing participation of over 90%”, said Simões.


The trade union representative said that backing for the strike action had been high across the country with a 100% walkout in Elvas Hospital, 93.1% in Portalegre and above or around 85% in the hospitals in Castelo Branco, Póvoa de Varzim, Vila do Conde and Portimão and bottoming out with 72% in Faro Hospital.


Simões said that the level of turnout “showed how nurses consider the 35-hour week an important and priority matter that they want to see resolved.”


The SEP said that the strike had gone ahead exclusively because a meeting with the Ministry of Health had failed to secure a timeframe for the re-introduction of the shorter working week with the union also demanding talks on employee churn in the nursing sector, the increase in absenteeism, the decline in working conditions and unpaid overtime.


The nurses strike takes place against a backdrop of civil service industrial action over the immediate return of the 35-hour working week against government plans to reverse the 40-hour week passed under troika-era supervision at the beginning of the second half of this year.