The Medical Union (Simebal) has warned: “We are not willing to sustain a long-term conflict if the Ministry fails to respond to the demands” raised in relation to the proposed Framework Statute (by the Ministry of Health) for staff of the National Health System. This was stated by the union organisation on Tuesday, the first day of the national doctors’ strike. In Mallorca and Menorca, demonstrations took place in the morning, while in Ibiza a protest is scheduled for Wednesday at 11:30 am in front of the main entrance of Can Misses Hospital, where a manifesto will be read.
According to Simebal, the strike has been followed by around 85% of hospital staff and 40% of Primary Care professionals (across the Pitiusas as a whole). The union also notes that the strike has had a stronger impact in Ibiza than in Formentera.
The Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM), which called the strike and includes Simebal among its members, has reiterated some of its main demands: a classification of professional groups based on levels of responsibility and training, so that healthcare graduates with 240 credits are not placed at the same level as doctors, who have 360; that on-call shifts should “be classified as extraordinary activity and paid above the standard hourly rate, and that these hours should count as worked time for retirement purposes”; and that on-call duties should have “a clear and well-defined schedule to guarantee their voluntary nature”, bearing in mind that this voluntary status “largely depends on pay and working conditions”. None of these issues are adequately addressed in the Framework Statute, Simebal stresses.
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