The decision comes after general elections were called, changing the political landscape. The Strike Committee, made up of the CESM, the Andalusian Medical Union (SMA) and the Basque Medical Union (SME), announced that the strike remains officially called, although the walkouts have been postponed. The organizations warned that they will resume protests if the next government fails to address healthcare professionals’ demands.
The unions believe that maintaining an indefinite strike during an election process would place a burden on doctors without any real prospect of negotiations, since there will be no political interlocutor capable of addressing their demands until a new government is formed.
THE FRAMEWORK STATUTE IS PUT ON HOLD BY THE ELECTIONS
The election announcement also directly affects the draft Framework Statute promoted by the Ministry of Health. According to the Strike Committee, the dissolution of Parliament “interrupts the processing of legislative initiatives currently under way.” Therefore, it “formally invalidates the deadlines, negotiations and documents associated with the draft,” and any attempt to revive it would have to start again in the next legislative term.
The unions consider this situation an “undisputed success” for medical professionals, who have spent months expressing their opposition to the draft. In their view, the pressure exerted during the mobilizations “has halted a regulation that the Ministry of Health and the unions in the sector had taken for practically approved for a year and a half.”
However, the organizations insist that postponing the strike does not mean the end of the dispute. Their main demands include creating a separate statute for doctors and medical professionals, a specific negotiating forum, changes to the system of mandatory on-call shifts, retirement arrangements adapted to the workload and a professional classification that recognizes their training and responsibility.
DOCTORS WARN OF NEW STRIKES AFTER THE ELECTIONS
The Strike Committee will present all these demands to the government that emerges from the ballot box and is keeping open the possibility of calling new walkouts if it does not receive a satisfactory response. In fact, the unions stress that the strike remains called, although the action planned from October 28 onward has been postponed.
In addition, the organizations have called on political parties to include specific commitments on doctors’ working conditions in their election programs. They believe that both professionals and citizens should know what measures each party is proposing to resolve the healthcare dispute.
