The Spanish Confederation of Medical Trade Unions (CESM) will keep out of the general strike called for this Wednesday, 11 November, by various trade union organizations, including UGT and CCOO. The organization considers that the stoppage does not respond to the specific labor demands of doctors and medical practitioners and questions that the trade union headquarters are now calling on the group to mobilize after, in its view, they have ignored their demands during the negotiation of the Framework Statute.
The decision, which the confederation assures it has maintained since the start of the call, responds both to the content of the protest and to the strategy proposed to achieve labor improvements. The CESM argues that the general strike pursues broader and cross-cutting objectives that do not coincide with the specific claims that the professional union maintains.
The reproach to UGT and CCOO for the Framework Statute
One of the main reasons for the distancing is the role, according to the CESM, that the majority unions have played during the negotiation of the draft of the Framework Statute. The confederation reproaches UGT and CCOO for having turned their backs on the demands of doctors and medical practitioners in the Negotiation Area and for subsequently having appealed to their mobilization in the street to defend them.
The organization considers it difficult to justify that the trade union headquarters are now demanding the support of the group for a strike when, during the months of negotiation, they would not have supported their demands. For this reason, it rejects joining a call which, in its view, does not constitute the appropriate strategy to achieve the improvements that the profession is demanding.
CESM also warns of the risk that the labor demands of doctors end up being used as an instrument of partisan confrontation, especially just a few weeks before the general elections on 29 November.
A statute of its own and better working conditions
The confederation insists that it maintains its specific demands, among which stands out the approval of its own medical statute and the creation of a differentiated negotiation area for doctors and medical practitioners.
To these demands it adds a professional classification that takes into account the training and responsibilities of the group, a fairer regulation of working hours and on-call duty, as well as dignified pay conditions.
The CESM argues that these claims should not be diluted in a general call with broader and cross-cutting objectives. For that reason, it confirms that it will not support the strike of November 11 and maintains its mobilization and negotiation strategy focused on the professional and working conditions of doctors and specialists.