Spain health reform: unions warn of fresh delay

Spain’s health service unions are fighting a proposed parliamentary working group in Madrid, warning on 21 September that it could delay a reform of staff rules. They say the plan could also substantially reshape the Estatuto Marco, the law setting basic employment conditions for statutory staff in the Spanish National Health System. The deadline for parliamentary groups to submit changes is 6 October.

UGT, CSIF, FSS-CCOO and the SATSE-FSES alliance back the version agreed in January after three years of talks in the negotiating body. They say that body is the only legitimate forum for negotiating the system’s shared, basic employment conditions.

The proposed group, put forward by the Forum of the Medical Profession, would bring together political groups, unions, administrations, scientific societies and professional organisations. The unions say such a group is not normal in the passage of an ordinary law and expressed dismay at Health Minister Mónica García’s support for the idea.

They want MPs to file amendments quickly, without what they call unnecessary extensions or party-political calculations. The unions will submit their own proposed changes, saying these must benefit all statutory health service staff rather than favouring a particular profession.

In its current form, they say, the bill improves working hours, job security, mobility, workplace health, work-life balance, job classification and career development. They also want follow-up rules completed quickly after Congress considers the law, so staff can use voluntary early retirement with reduction coefficients and partial retirement.

Topics: Jobs & labour · Health · Politics

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com