Doctors demand to negotiate their working conditions with Illa and Sánchez: "We will maintain pressure to the limit"

BarcelonaA multitude of white coats demonstrated this Monday morning on Sardenya street in Barcelona, around the Sagrada Família, to demand – for the tenth time since autumn – a health agreement that exclusively regulates doctors' conditions. In front of dozens of disoriented tourists who were also photographing the protest, half a thousand doctors once again demanded improvements in working conditions from both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Health, whom they accuse of ignoring their demands. "We will maintain the pressure to the limit of our strength," stated the union's general secretary, Xavier Lleonart.

The demonstration, called by the majority union Metges de Catalunya, began at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau and ended in front of the basilica with one objective: to elevate their demands to the presidency of Catalonia and the State, considering that "it is time for the presidents" and that both Pedro Sánchez and Salvador Illa must get involved to resolve a conflict that "has stalled" due to the negotiation of the "Estatut Marc", said Lleonart.

The Department of Health has estimated the follow-up of the doctors' strike at 5.2% this morning in the public health system centers (Siscat) and Lleonart admitted that there is "a certain degree of weariness" and that it is "normal" for professionals to not be able to afford to go on strike again. However, he warned that they are "stubbornly on their feet" against the Ministry of Health and the Generalitat, as they are "turning a deaf ear" to their demands.

For Lleonart, the Minister of Health, Mónica García, "has already resigned from being a minister", after announcing on Saturday that she wants to be the candidate for Més Madrid in the next regional elections. On the other hand, he recalled that the Minister of Health, Olga Pané, is on leave. Therefore, he insisted that the responsibility now lies with the presidents. "I am aware that Sánchez received a letter today from the strike committee urging him to "take the bull by the horns" and in the coming days we will also ask Illa that, given that he has a minister on leave, to take the lead in the negotiation," he stated.

35 hours and voluntary on-call duties

During the march in Barcelona, protesters passed by various health centers, such as the Puigvert Foundation, and displayed banners with messages like "Vocation is not exploitation" or "Fewer ties and more gowns." Behind a large banner that read "It affects you too," professionals moved to the front of the basilica, where they constructed a mosaic with the message "Medical agreement now." Mostly, medical protests are based on the need for their own Framework Statute, the reduction of working hours to 35 per week, and the improvement of on-call pay, as well as for them to be voluntary and count towards retirement.

"Why do the rest of healthcare professionals have 35 or 37-hour workweeks while doctors can reach over 45 hours?" complained Manel, a protester and pediatrician in primary care. "We have lives in our hands, and when a doctor is on a 24-hour on-call shift, no matter how willing they are, they can make mistakes," warned Esther. At the end of the march, doctors read a manifesto, in which they criticized the healthcare model and the administration's lack of negotiation. "We have been dragging an exhausted model for too long. We have endured unmanageable workdays, imposed decisions, and a lack of structural recognition for too long. We have been asked for sacrifice while being denied a voice for too long."

The stoppage by Catalan doctors this Monday coincides with a four-day national strike due to the group's confrontation with the Ministry of Health regarding the Framework Statute for healthcare professionals. Metges de Catalunya supports this protest – it has joined the strike committee of the Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM) – but wants to directly address the Department of Health in its demands because it assures that the ministry has the powers to introduce improvements in working conditions.

Mónica García: "They don't want to negotiate"

The state committee has also demanded this Monday from the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, that he assume "immediately" the negotiation to unblock the conflict of this collective against the Framework Statute of the Ministry of Health because its head, Mónica García, is not "a valid interlocutor". "This conflict already exceeds the ministry: it is a matter of government," it emphasizes in a statement. According to the doctors, the sustainability of the system, the working conditions of doctors, and the quality of care require decisions that "transcend a ministry that has proven incapable of addressing them". "After 16 days of strike and more than a dozen meetings without real progress, the committee considers that the conflict has reached a decisive point: there will be no end without real negotiation or effective solution," they underline.

The minister has responded to the doctors by assuring that "red lines" are being crossed with "illegal" demands that, far from seeking labor improvements for doctors and physicians, respond to other "interests" to "keep the conflict alive". "To a strike committee that asks me to do illegal things or to invade other competences or to transgress other laws, I cannot say yes. And when someone comes to a negotiation table and sets as red lines things that are illegal, they do not want to negotiate," she concluded.