SMEs could join the indefinite state strike in September despite an agreement with Osakidetza

The Basque Medical Union (SME) has warned that if an indefinite strike by doctors is called from September against the Framework Statute throughout Spain, they will also join in the Basque Country, despite the agreement signed yesterday by this body with Osakidetza.

On Monday, Osakidetza and SME signed an agreement to improve the working conditions of doctors, an agreement only for doctors, which caused the anger of the other unions, and to rise from the Sectoral Bureau of the Basque health system. 

On Radio Euskadi, SME Secretary General Mabel Arciniega said she was "disappointed" by the "regrettable" response of the other unions to the agreement, considering that the agreement will lead to "improvements" in the exoneration system, as well as a review of doctors' pay.

He rejected the fact that this agreement was the result of 'a secret negotiation', since, in Arciniega's words, the SME has been explaining the progress of this dialogue with the Basque Government and, finally, the pre-agreement has been transferred to the Osakidetza Sectoral Bureau.

This pact has been the result of a negotiation process of its own in the Basque Country, in the face of disagreements with the Ministry of Health over the preliminary draft of the Framework Statute Act. Thus, doctors say that some of the requests they made to Osakidetza in particular have been settled, but Esparru says that their position on the Statute has not changed with regard to the Ministry.

He explained that the SME has little weight on the national strike committee compared to the other major organisations, so if it is voted and approved by a majority to maintain an indefinite strike throughout the state from September onwards, it will also be called in the Basque Country.

"We owe it to that committee," he said.