The nursing technicians and senior health technicians of the public health network of Catalonia decided to call off late on Tuesday night the indefinite strike that they had been maintaining since January 8. The third meeting between the unions and the leadership of the Health Department, headed by Minister Manel Balcells, was long and cumbersome, but fruitful. “We have reached a satisfactory agreement,” the councilor proclaimed around midnight, after almost 12 hours of negotiation.
The pact is based on three sections. Firstly, the professional requalification of the groups: level B for senior technicians and C1 for assistants. This measure depends on the Government, and will be claimed by Balcells in the meeting that he will hold on Friday in Madrid with the Minister of Health, Mónica García. Secondly, the Institut Català de la Salut is committed to applying organizational improvements, including the definition of functions and competencies and the workloads of the two mobilized groups. The third point, the most important according to the unions, is remuneration.
As in the case of nurses, Salut rejects modifying the agreements but is committed to addressing the salary issue within the framework of the harmonization table of the public and concerted systems, creating specific groups for each healthcare group. Salut and unions will meet every two months to monitor the agreements.
