October begins with the return of healthcare strikes. The indefinite doctors’ strike, which resumes on the 28th after a summer truce, will be joined by a walkout by Higher Healthcare Technicians, who have warned that they will “raise their voices” again from October 13 in response to “19 years of non-compliance, lack of recognition and no real solutions”.
The strike has been called nationwide, including in Aragón, by the State Union of Higher Healthcare Technicians (SIETeSS). The Strike Committee said its decision to resume the walkouts was prompted by the fact that they have been providing essential healthcare services for “far too long” “without the professional, financial and academic recognition we are entitled to”. They therefore consider that the situation “can no longer tolerate further delays”.
In their case, their demands also extend to the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration, which they accuse of “failing to comply with the law”. The issue lies in their professional classification in Group B, intended for those holding a Higher Technician qualification, which “is still not being effectively applied to our group, despite this legal provision having existed since the approval of the Basic Statute of Public Employees in 2007”, they denounced.
THEY WILL CONTINUE “UNTIL THERE IS A REAL RESPONSE”
The Strike Committee said the mobilizations will continue “until there is a real, serious response with specific commitments” from the competent authorities. It also stressed that the Commission for the Degree remains “open to dialogue”, but insists that it must be “immediate, serious and based on specific commitments”.
For the committee, the indefinite strike “is not the beginning of a conflict”, but rather the consequence of “years of non-compliance”. It stressed that during the strike called in May, the group had already shown that it was “united, steadfast and prepared to defend its professional dignity”. In that mobilization, they said, they demanded “justice, recognition and a future for Higher Healthcare Technicians”. Now, they concluded, “we are taking one more step”.
DOCTORS WILL RESUME THEIR INDEFINITE STRIKE ON OCTOBER 28
Higher Healthcare Technicians will not be the only group staging mobilizations this month. Doctors and medical specialists will begin an indefinite nationwide strike on October 28 to protest the draft Framework Statute Act, approved by the Government on September 1. The call represents an escalation of the conflict as the legislation moves through the Congress of Deputies.
Medical unions maintain that the reform proposed by the Ministry of Health fails to address their longstanding demands and does not sufficiently recognize the distinctiveness, responsibility, and training and working conditions of doctors. After several months of mobilizations, they are calling on the ministry to open negotiations aimed at establishing a separate Medical and Doctors’ Statute that reflects the specific features of the profession.
The strike call will come from the Strike Committee made up of CESM, SMA, Metges de Catalunya, Amyts, SME and O'MEGA, and will also have the support of the Medical and Doctors’ Union (UMYF), made up of Metges de Catalunya, Amyts, O'MEGA, Simega, Sindicato Médico Avanza, Sindicato Médico de Navarra and Semca. The unions remain willing to negotiate, although they are calling on the Ministry of Health for “real negotiations” to address their demands.
