The representative of the Generalitat in the delegated human resources commission of the interterritorial council of the National Health Service will propose in the meeting scheduled for today an improvement in the professional categories of nurses and other health professions that should involve salary increases.
The proposal has been advanced by the Minister of Health, Manel Balcells, after two days of indefinite strike by Catalan nursing, called and supported by Infermeres de Catalunya and other minority unions. The strike has had little impact on the system, but it has significantly affected the ICS primary care centers, with a follow-up of 38% on Wednesday and 15% yesterday. Nurses are holding a demonstration today in Barcelona that will conclude at the Salut headquarters.
Balcells has shown himself understanding with the demands of nursing in an appearance before the media. In his opinion, the group's discomfort does not respond only to a question of money, but also to "a lack of recognition, of fatigue, to a more professional issue that is accompanied by the historical demand to have a professional category at the level of the academic category.
The minister will raise this claim in the next bilateral meeting, still undated, that he will hold with the new Minister of Health, Mónica García. A measure that does not exclusively affect nursing, which calls for advancing from professional level A2 to A1. The system's administrators demand a new category of health administrators, the senior technicians want to advance from level C1 to B and the TCAI (nursing assistants) from C2 to C1.
These measures, which are contemplated in the third collective agreement of the Catalan Health Institute recently signed with the endorsement of 13 of the 15 union representatives (all except Catac), mean bloodless remuneration for all these groups. But the professional classification of public employees is the responsibility of the State.
Balcells is confident that a bilateral negotiation with the Government – a negotiation that he has compared to the one carried out for the amnesty of the ‘procés’ – can resolve the situation. “The new minister has entered with enthusiasm, she has a long experience of confrontation in the community of Madrid with the Isabel Díaz Ayuso Model, which is antagonistic to ours,” he argued.
On the other hand, the minister has committed to immediately activate working groups for the different professional categories within the harmonization table for the Siscat (agreed healthcare) and ICS staff agreements.
Also, as a measure to mitigate nursing discomfort, Balcells has announced that it will intensify dialogue with professional associations and scientific nursing associations. “The bottom line is the lack of social recognition,” he stated, and admitted the wear and tear and discomfort of the profession after the pandemic and the cuts.
