Marina Alta medical staff announce three-day strike
Agreement reached in Elche with private contractor as talks collapse in Denia
HOSPITAL and local practice staff in the Marina Alta are set to go on strike from May 4 to 6 inclusive after negotiations over conditions and salaries broke down.
A crisis meeting with unions and employee representatives on Tuesday over whether or not to down tools concluded with a vote to hold a three-day picket, providing 'minimum services' only.
The extent of these will be discussed in further meetings before the month is out, but will be broadly similar to 'what happens over a normal weekend or bank holiday', according to a spokesperson.
Emergencies, particularly life-threatening ones, and crucial treatment or surgery, such as for cancer, will almost certainly still be provided, but if anyone has routine consultations, check-ups or tests booked for those three days, they should attempt to reschedule if possible.
Over 200 workers in a wide scope of roles joined the assembly on Tuesday, with some wanting to limit any industrial action to just one day, and others calling for an indefinite strike.
GP clinics serving the district’s 33 towns and villages will also be affected, not just Denia hospital.
Below-inflation pay rises, long hours and 'staff exodus'
The privatised area health department has reportedly refused to budge on pay scales, despite salaries not having gone up in eight years, the staff committee has revealed. Management company
Prensa Off - 243,5x85_EN.pdf Ribera Salud is only willing to offer a 1.5% pay increase this year and 2% next year – well below the rate of inflation and not taking into account accumulated cost-ofliving increases since the previous collective bargaining agreement was signed in 2014.
Hospital staff say they are also having to work much longer hours than in other catchment areas, spreading themselves thinly to make up for insufficient employee numbers.
And in addition to exiting colleagues not being replaced, lower wages and tougher working schedules mean that as soon as other vacancies come up elsewhere in the region, more and more of them apply for transfers.
Regional health authorities have announced 6,000 new jobs for public healthcare professionals in all three provinces, and the exodus from Denia hospital has multiplied as its workers seize opportunities to get out, complains the staff committee.
This leads to a vicious circle as Denia schedules become even more punishing, triggering an increasing desire to move on, they stress.
Elche
In a press statement set out this week, private healthcare contractor Ribera Salud – which is owned by the US company Centene corporation – noted that they had signed an agreement with unions in Elche, whilst ‘negotiations continue in Denia’.
They noted that the situation at Vinalopó hospital in Elche ‘contrasts with that of Denia where the workers’ committee is planning to go on strike’.
The deal in Elche was reached after two years of negotiations, they noted.
According to the company, unions in Elche had ‘a disposition to talk’, which meant that they were able to come to an agreement to improve working conditions for staff.
They explained that employees will have a 1.5% pay rise this year and the same in 2023, with 0.5% of next year’s dependent on hitting targets.
The agreement in the Vinalopó health department was ‘satisfactory for all’, they claimed.
Salvador Sanchis, director of staffing at Ribera, said the Elche deal showed the desire of the company to reach agreements.
No deal for Denia
Time's nearly up for Ribera Salud as its 15-year franchise in the Marina Alta will not be renewed once it expires at the end of December 2023, the regional government has confirmed.
Although serious thought has been given since at least 2015 to 'buying back' the district health service and returning it to public hands, it looks likely that the concession will be left to run its course.
Cutting it short would mean a fixed penalty in compensation running into millions, unless it was found that the management company had failed to comply with the original contract terms.
Healthcare concession terms require public authorities to give holding companies a minimum of a year's notice if they choose not to renew the deal, and Valencia is reportedly planning on communicating this formally to Ribera Salud imminently.