After almost two years of negotiations, the Health Department and the unions have approved the new collective agreement for the more than 52,500 workers of the Catalan Health Institute (ICS). The Generalitat will allocate 320 million euros, practically the entire increase in the Health budget, to improvements in remuneration and quality of work for employees. Minister Manel Balcells hopes that the new conditions, “very competitive and which greatly improve the quality of life of professionals,” will prevent migration. “In number of hours worked and salaries we are at the level of other communities. Regarding abroad, surely the temptation to leave due to working conditions will decrease substantially,” he stated.
The second sector agreement, signed in 2006, presented a significant gap from an economic point of view, admitted Balcells, who in less than a year has sealed the agreement between the ICS and Siscat (concerted healthcare), which affects some 70,000 workers, with the idea of ??advancing in equalizing the conditions of the two groups. According to Balcells, the new ICS agreement consolidates the department’s commitment to professionals and is an “instrument for improving care for citizens, improving quality and equity.”
Three measures of the new agreement affect all groups: recognition of professional careers outside the public system for all those who join the ICS, the price of Christmas and New Year’s shifts is doubled, and professional careers are extended to everyone. the Institute’s collective, permanent or temporary.
Regarding physicians, it is specified that first-year doctors after the MIR will receive a base salary of 65,000 euros without counting on-call, and the remuneration, professional career and bonuses of primary care doctors will be equated with those of hospitals. . “There was a gap that has been recognized, those in PC are specialists just like those in hospitals and the treatment should be the same,” argued Balcells. The agreement contemplates a specific supplement for primary and community care estimated at 19,020 euros per year for urban areas and 20,045 for rural areas. Although their salaries grow less, hospital doctors see their annual working hours reduced by 86 hours (to 1,728), rest after shifts is guaranteed and the price of in-person shifts increases by an average of 30%, among other measures. .
The professional career of the specialists improves both because all the years of MIR will be counted and will be obtained sooner, and because their remuneration is increased by 1,000 euros.
Regarding nursing, the fixed salary increases by 1,700 euros per year to match that of Siscat, the specialty category in nursing is recognized with 1,500 euros in the professional career and other extraordinary remunerations are proposed for the experience acquired in different areas.
Thirteen of the 15 union representatives subscribe to the agreement that Balcells defined as “transcendent, essential, almost historic.” Metges de Catalunya, which did not sign the 2006 one, has signed, but expressed frustration because, in his opinion, it does not recognize conciliation as a basic pillar, nor workloads as a cause of doctors’ illness. “The public health system cannot be sustained on the effort and illness of doctors,” they say.