Speaking in Coimbra, José Carlos Martins said that the strike – on the second of four days of regional strikes – was "to make the Ministry [of Health] and the government see that nurses are not satisfied, are very unhappy that the ministry is not responding to the counting of [seniority] points, to the hiring of more nurses, to valuing and dignifying the profession, and to retirement issues."

In a news conference held outside the Coimbra Hospital and University Centre (CHUC), Martins stressed that, of the more than 2,000 nurses working in the institution, there are professionals aged "63, 64 or 65, with more than 40 years of shift work [under their belt], whose near and far sight is already poor, several with hernias and backaches resulting from lifting so many patients, all because they cannot retire earlier."

To the government, he said, "working in an office is the same as providing nursing care – but, with all due respect, it is not. "The union is thus "fighting for earlier retirement.”

There are also, he said, nurses "who were promoted to … specialist and management [roles] after August 2005 and are now earning less than their youngest colleagues in the profession."

The SEP president also said that there are nurses placed in the €1,200-per-month bracket who have been "greatly penalised in terms of [career] progression" because the ministry is not taking account of their whole professional career.

Although the ministry wound up negotiations on 17 January, the union is awaiting additional talks that are to take place from Monday so that the ministry can "remedy all these situations".

The four-day strike convened by the SEP, which began on Tuesday and runs to Friday, is also to protest the winding up of negotiations on career structures.

On Thursday the strike moves to northern Portugal and on Friday to the Algarve, Alentejo and Azores.