Striking nurses deliver 500 letters with their demands to health department

Catalan nurses, who have been on strike since December to urge for better working conditions, have delivered more than 500 letters with their demands to the Department of Health on Tuesday.

The delivery was made after more than an hour of protest at the doors of the department in a rally that brought together nearly 250 people.

On Monday, around 500 striking nurses demonstrated in the center of Barcelona to call for an improvement in pay. 

During the demonstrations, the gathered protesters displayed banners asking for the nursing profession be valued.

There were chants for the same thing, and others criticizing the health minister Manel Balcells and calling for his resignation.

Laia Marsal, vice-president of Catalan Nurses Union, read a manifesto that called for an end to the "repeated contempt" towards nurses: "We are great health workers and we are not valued."

The union has warned they have no intention of stopping their indefinite strike, which began on December 12.

Speaking to the media, Marsal explained that they have taken to the streets "with pride" once again for Balcells to read their letters. "I want him to see that every day we are making sacrifices to be able to maintain the precious health care system that we have and to ask him to work together with us to improve it."

Currently, Marsal pointed out, they do not have any formal meeting with the health ministry organized, but they do have a pending meeting with the Department of Labor to foster mediation.

Dispute

The nursing union Infermeres de Catalunya has demanded a pay rise equivalent to the A1 level to end the ongoing strike.  

In a meeting with Catalan Health Minister Manel Balcells last week, the nurses demanded to be upgraded to a higher salary category in line with their education.

According to sources in the Ministry of Health, Balcells has promised to negotiate with the Spanish government, which is in charge of approving the salary increase. 

"Although the competence lies in Madrid, the Catalan government can create a homologation supplement that allows nurses to enjoy this recognition in the meantime," said Núria Guirado, president of the nursing union, after the meeting. 

However, Balcells warned that the Catalan government has no authority to implement such a measure and reminded the nurses that the latest agreement of the Catalan Institute of Health (ICS) already includes a partial increase of €1,700 per year.  

None of the main unions (CCOO, Ugt, Metges de Catalunya and Satse) supported the strike. Satse, the largest nurses' union in Catalonia, actively campaigned against the strike and accused Infermeres de Catalunya, a smaller nurses' union, of being "electoralist".