Medical strike: the conflict over the new Framework Statute erupts and anticipates a critical winter in the public health system

The Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM) and the Andalusian Medical Union (SMA) have called four days of national strike for December 9, 10, 11 and 12, a protest that has already been joined by other medical organizations. This is an unprecedented pressure movement in the context of the negotiation of the new Framework Statute of the National Health System (SNS), which Health wants to update after more than two decades in force. After almost three years of meetings and more than 60 encounters, the unions maintain that the dialogue with the Ministry is “exhausted” and that the proposed text does not respond to the real needs of the collective.

During these four days, simultaneous rallies will be held in all the autonomous communities. In Madrid, the protest will begin on Tuesday, December 9, with a demonstration from the Congress of Deputies to the headquarters of the Ministry of Health. The objective: to demand their own Framework Statute, with a differentiated negotiation scope and specific representatives for the medical collective, a demand that -according to them- the Health Ministry refuses to recognize.

Among the most controversial points of the draft, the unions point out the professional classification, which equates MECES III and MECES II qualifications despite the differences in training and responsibility. They also denounce that the text does not adequately regulate on-call duty, does not consider it an extraordinary activity, and maintains the possibility that physicians may accumulate more than 45 hours a week under the argument of “service needs”. Added to this is the maintenance of forced mobility, a system of incompatibilities that they describe as “discriminatory” and the lack of progress in the creation of the A1+ group for specialist physicians.

The protest from December 9 to 12 will not be the only one. The organizations SATSE-FSES, CCOO, UGT, CSIF and CIG-Saúde have also announced an indefinite strike every Tuesday from January 27, as no progress has been made in the negotiation of a Framework Statute that includes all healthcare professionals and improves working conditions, pay and working hours. These unions also demand the possibility of early and partial retirement, real conciliation and a clearer regulation on care burdens.

The Ministry of Health assures that the draft incorporates “all possible demands” within its competencies and reminds that a basic state law cannot invade autonomic functions or set economic amounts such as complements or remuneration for on-call duty. Health maintains that it has reached “the maximum possible development” without violating the constitutional framework and warns that blocking the approval of the Framework Statute would mean losing a “historic opportunity” for regulatory reform.

While the disagreement continues, the two calls for strikes – one immediate in December and the other indefinite since January – anticipate a hot winter in the Spanish public healthcare system, with thousands of professionals demanding structural changes which, they claim, are essential to guarantee the quality of care.