The conflict between the medical unions and the Ministry of Health over the reform of the Framework Statute threatens to prolong and anticipates new medical strikes after the failure of the meeting held this Wednesday in Madrid. The Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM) and the Andalusian Medical Union (SMA) accuse the department headed by Mónica García of having “dynamited” the meeting and of having broken any negotiation channel with the Strike Committee.
As both organizations have denounced in a press release, the meeting – which had a previously fixed agenda – was deactivated from the start when the Secretary General of Health, Javier Padilla, announced that the Ministry would not maintain “two parallel lines of dialogue” since a pre-agreement had already been reached at the Ambito table with the majority unions.
The union representatives consider that this position demonstrates “zero negotiating intent” and represents a total breakdown of the talks with the Strike Committee, so they decided to leave the meeting. CESM and SMA remind that this table is not an extension of the Scope, but the body of interlocution of the national conflict called after the recent days of medical strike.
Criticism from trade unions
The unions also criticize that both this meeting and the one held last Thursday – called, they point out, barely 24 hours in advance and in the midst of the strike – had the sole objective of “demobilizing” the medical profession and pretending a willingness to dialogue that they describe as non-existent.
In this sense, they reproach the Ministry for not having taken into account the large number of doctors on strike and its impact on healthcare, waiting lists and patients. In their opinion, the pre-agreement reached this week with the non-medical unions “does not address any of the specific demands of doctors and physicians”.
In view of this situation, CESM and SMA have announced that they will take what has happened to their executive bodies to decide on new mobilizations, which points to a continuity of the conflict and the possibility of more stoppages in the health system. Both organizations conclude that physicians need a direct dialogue with the Administration and their own statute that reflects their working and professional conditions.
Recent strike on Ibiza and Formentera
The protests of the medical collective in the Pitiusas, which joined the national strikes against the draft of the Framework Statute, had a significant impact on local health care: between December 9 and 12, more than 1,300 appointments were suspended in Primary Care and almost 1,000 health care acts – consultations, tests and surgeries – at the Can Misses Hospital in Ibiza and health centers in Ibiza and Formentera, according to data on health care activity monitoring.
The Medical Union of the Balearic Islands (Sindicato Médico de Baleares, Simebal) has positively assessed the response, with a majority of the hospitals following the event and a continued impact on medical activity in the islands, and has been one of the actors that has promoted the rallies and strikes in the archipelago.
With the recent clash between the Strike Committee (CESM and SMA) and the Ministry of Health, and without a clear negotiated solution, Simebal and the doctors of the Pitiusas do not rule out resuming or extending the mobilizations locally, which would open the door for similar strikes to be repeated in Ibiza and Formentera if there is no progress in the demands of the collective.
