"It's been years, many meetings, many negotiation sessions, and a very complex text that hadn't been touched in 22 years," declared a relieved Health Minister Mónica García after announcing on Monday the agreement for a new Framework Statute for healthcare professionals. Several labor unions have signed the agreement, but not the medical unions. The Framework Statute is the law that regulates the working conditions of healthcare professionals throughout Spain, and its update has been one of Minister García's priorities this legislative term. There was a lot of back and forth between unions and management, strikes, and threats to end up putting the text in a drawer.Finally, an agreement has been reached with the unions SATSE-FSES, CCOO, UGT, and CSIF. However, the text—which must be approved by the Council of Ministers and subsequently processed as a law in the Congress of Deputies and the Senate—is flawed from the start, since It does not have the support of medical unionsThey have repeatedly demanded a single collective bargaining agreement that exclusively protects the working conditions of doctors. In fact, the national strike committee, comprised of the Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM), the Andalusian Medical Union (SMA), Doctors of Catalonia (MC), the Association of Doctors and Higher Graduates of Madrid (AMYTS), the Basque Medical Union (SME), and the Basque Country Medical Union (O'MEGA), has already announced a monthly strike day starting in February. The agreed-upon text ends 24-hour on-call shifts and reduces them to 17 hours, limits the weekly working hours to 45, regulates rest periods, and recognizes the right to work-life balance, among other improvements. "This is the broadest agreement reached to date for a statute of this kind in our national health system," the minister asserted, thanking the union representatives for their commitment, responsibility, and loyalty. García also highlighted the more than 60 meetings held to shape this agreement and expressed confidence that it will be approved, even though it must go through Congress and the Senate for processing.