The Minister of Health, Mónica García, urged trade unions in the Sector this Wednesday to "be calm," after organizations such as the Nursing Union (SATSE) and the Independent and Civil Servants Union (CSIF) expressed their "outright rejection" of the draft Framework Statute due to the modifications introduced in the text that was approved by the Council of Ministers.
Both trade union organizations criticized last week that the draft excludes the right to partial retirement and early retirement through reduction coefficients, "a basic issue from the beginning of the negotiation," as CSIF stressed in a statement, in which it even opened the door to calling for mobilizations.
When asked about this controversy, the head of Health highlighted that the Sector's trade unions were "extremely responsible in reaching an agreement that improves the working conditions of professionals." She then emphasized that certain aspects, including retirement, "do not depend solely on the Ministry of Health," something that, she indicated, these organizations know perfectly well.
"Because retirement, partial retirement, early retirement, it's not that it doesn't depend on the Ministry of Health and it's not that it doesn't depend on the Government of Spain, it's that it depends on a social pact that we all have to decide how we partially retire and how we retire early. This is almost a matter of national importance," the minister explained, referring to the general framework that regulates these benefits.
Despite this, she guaranteed that the Health department will continue working to ensure that "all and each one of the options" for early retirement and partial retirement are included. "But I insist again, it's just that it doesn't depend on the Framework Statute," she reiterated, marking the normative competence limits.
Along the same lines, García stressed that the drafting of the Statute does not conclude with its initial approval in the Council of Ministers, as the procedure now continues with the public hearing process and, subsequently, with the debate in the Cortes Generales, where she is confident that amendments and "all possible improvements" can be incorporated.
"The unions in the Sector can rest assured, because we are certainly not the ones breaking agreements, who have tried to tell us to break the agreement with the unions in the Sector by saying that we should bury the Framework Statute that we have worked on with them," he stated, insisting that the Ministry of Health remains "firm" and will address the issues that still remain to be resolved "in other areas."