Doctors will go on strike again with a major indefinite stoppage throughout the State
The doctors raise the tone in parallel to the arrival of the Framework Statute to Congress, which they want to prevent from being approved
BarcelonaState doctors are returning to strike and will do so with an indefinite work stoppage starting in October. This was announced this Wednesday by the Medical and Faculty Union (Umyts), an organization that brings together various union representatives from across the State, including Metges de Catalunya, the majority medical union in our country. Over the last year, doctors have held 12 days of strikes to protest against the Ministry of Health's Framework Statute and to demand their own agreement, distinct from other healthcare professionals. Now they are raising the tone and calling for an indefinite stoppage starting in October, although it has not yet been specified when the strike will begin. Union sources explain to ARA that the expectation is for it to start in the middle of the month.
Although the threat of an indefinite strike by doctors was already on the table, the Spanish government approved the draft bill for the health workers' Framework Statute at the beginning of September, which will now have to begin its parliamentary journey. Doctors have rejected the text from the very first minute, demanding their own exclusive space for negotiation and labor and professional improvements just for them. The future statute governs the minimum working conditions for National Health System personnel and introduces certain improvements compared to the one in force since 2003: it regulates working hours and rest periods for healthcare professionals and standardizes professional categories by adapting them to the European framework.
But for the physicians, the text is insufficient to meet their demands, and they are demanding their own statute. In fact, they have shown their rejection up to 12 times in the last year with various rounds of mobilizations and service stoppages that have had discreet follow-up, according to data from the Department of Health. Mostly, the medical protests are based on the need for their own Framework Statute, the reduction of working hours to 35 hours, and the improvement of the pay for on-call shifts, which should also be voluntary and count towards retirement. The other organizers are the Association of Doctors and Higher Graduates of Madrid (Amyts), O'Mega, Avanza Valencia, the Medical Union of Navarre, and the Union of Medical Employees of the Canary Islands (Semca), who hope to agree on the start of the stoppage with the State Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM) so that the participation of professionals is as large as possible.
Pending gaining support
Despite the demands of the professionals, the Minister of Health, Mónica García, refused to create a specific statute for doctors and, in fact, was able to sign an agreement with five unions representing the majority of the sector —SATSE-FSES, CCOO, UGT, CSIF and CIG-Saúde—, which did not stop the protests from strictly medical unions, such as Metges de Catalunya. Among other measures, the reform puts an end to 24-hour medical on-call shifts to reduce them to a maximum of 17, prevents ordinary shifts from being worked immediately after an on-call shift, and sets a limit of 45 working hours per week, compared to the European ceiling of 48. Doctors, however, are raising their demands to shifts that do not exceed 35 hours per week and are calling for the creation of a professional category (A1+).
From now on, the preliminary draft begins the parliamentary process. The minister does not, for the time being, have the majority secured to move forward with one of her major legislative commitments, as the text has provoked the frontal rejection of the PP and Vox, in line with the autonomous communities where they govern, while among the investiture partners (ERC, Junts, PNB and EH Bildu) the final decision will depend in large part on whether their amendments are included. In this scenario, doctors are raising the tone with the aim of hindering the negotiation so that the regulation does not ultimately come to fruition. It remains to be seen whether the turnout for the indefinite strike improves on the records of previous mobilizations, in which the unions struggled to mobilize the professionals.
