What will the doctors' strike, which will last all week, be like?

BarcelonaDoctors across the country are going on strike again this week to demand their own collective bargaining agreement that exclusively regulates their working conditions. Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Health and labor unions—among which the medical unions are not included— They signed an agreement for a new framework statute.The law regulating the working conditions of healthcare professionals in Spain, which had not been updated for 22 years, has been amended. The new law, however, does not satisfy the organizations representing doctors, who have been protesting for months with strikes and demonstrations to express their discontent. This time, the strike committee of the Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM), which includes regional organizations—among them Doctors of Catalonia, the largest medical union in the country—has called a five-day strike, the longest to date, to continue pressuring the Spanish government. "If they think we'll tire of protesting, they're very wrong. We understand it won't be short or easy, but the profession has said enough," Xavier Lleonart, general secretary of Doctors of Catalonia, told ARA, making it clear that the mobilizations are directed against government policies. In fact, the Catalan union supports the five-day strike, but has also organized two days of protest this Monday and Friday against the department. However, they only plan to take to the streets with a large demonstration on Friday, and on the other days they are simply urging professionals not to go to work. They also do not expect to negotiate with the Catalan Health Department, since so far the department "has not extended an olive branch" to avoid the mobilizations.

In recent months, Catalan doctors have mobilized for their own collective bargaining agreement and also to achieve professional improvements, although Lleonart emphasizes that this week's call for action does not address salaries because the "top priority" now is securing the agreement.

At the beginning of January, the Catalan union and the other regional medical unions joined the strike committee of the Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM) to form a united front against the Ministry of Health. As a result of this historic union of unionsThey have called for five-day strikes each month, beginning this week and expected to continue until June. Lleonart also criticizes the Minister of Health, Olga Pané, and argues that Catalonia has the authority and the power to improve doctors' working conditions.

Minimum services

The minimum services mandated stipulate that normal operations must be maintained in emergency services; intensive care units (ICUs); and other specialized units, such as hemodialysis, neonatology, radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments, as well as all those considered life-threatening emergencies. Surgical procedures that cannot be postponed will also be performed. In primary care and urgent care centers, urgent care must be guaranteed, and services will be provided with 25% of the staff on the first day; from the second day onward, this will increase to one-third of the staff.