Healthcare union plans protest over pay and calls for minister’s resignation
Wednesday 16th September 2026 on 10:45 in
Latvia
Latvia’s healthcare and social care workers’ union will hold a protest outside the Cabinet of Ministers, demand higher pay for all healthcare workers and call for Health Minister Hosams Abu Meri’s resignation, LSM reported.
The council of the Latvian Health and Social Care Workers’ Trade Union, known as LVSADA, said it would maintain its demand for higher wages in the 2027 state budget. The union is seeking an increase of at least 30%, with the necessary funding included in state-funded healthcare service tariffs.
LVSADA has also called for the Cabinet of Ministers’ regulations on minimum monthly wages and special allowances for healthcare workers to be reviewed, as well as for a regular mechanism to review pay.
The Ministry of Health told the union in September that a 25.4% pay increase would require 228.7 million euros. Participants at a meeting recognised the seriousness of the situation, but no decision was made on allocating the funding, and no further action plan or deadline was set.
A draft Cabinet response on the 2027 state budget acknowledges that the healthcare sector needs around 663 million euros in additional funding. However, it identifies only 45.2 million euros as needed for human resources. The draft does not specify how much funding will actually be allocated, LVSADA said.
The union’s office has been tasked with preparing and registering the protest in accordance with Latvia’s law on meetings, marches and protests. It will also identify potential participants, inform LVSADA’s organisations and members, and invite partner organisations, other trade unions, professional healthcare organisations and patient groups to take part.
LVSADA’s council also voted to express no confidence in Abu Meri and demand his resignation, citing his alleged inability to secure a specific, sufficient and financially supported government decision to address the healthcare crisis.
The council said the target set in Latvia’s Public Health Policy Guidelines for 2021 to 2027, which calls for state healthcare funding to reach 6% of gross domestic product in 2027, will not be met.