The Valencia Ministry of Health has announced that it will withdraw the complaint in which it challenged the collective agreement made by staff at Torrevieja Hospital, approved by agreement between Ribera Salud and the unions a year before the reversal of the hospital to public management.
The announcement comes after the assembly held last week in which the workers agreed to call a strike at Easter and a demonstration for Saturday 4 March. Despite the announcement of the Ministry, whose decision comes after a decree signed by the Minister of Health, Miguel Mínguez, the workers indicate that they are not going to call off the strike or the demonstration because “we do not trust the Ministry. Until we see the judicial order of withdrawal, we will continue as until now”, Fran García, representative of the working committee indicated.
Feelings are still very raw at the hospital, after the workers have been left to pick up the pieces following the disastrous reversal of the management, whilst patients have been left to suffer the consequences, despite the continual best efforts of the medical teams.
The committee shared the news to their colleagues, saying:
We have just received an email from the Minister, a Resolution where he requests the withdrawal of the challenge of the Collective Agreement to the legal profession. We want you to know that this has been thanks to the pressure that we are exerting as a collective.
From the Works Council we believe that now we should not relax since until we have the judicial order of withdrawal from the legal profession itself, we should not trust that it is completely withdrawn.
Therefore, we inform you that the demonstration will continue forward, also so that you know that we have to negotiate a fair and real agreement.
For all this, now more than ever they should see us strong and united so that we not only get the dismissal order but also sit down to negotiate a Fair Agreement with us.
We are waiting for you all on Saturday.
Together WE ARE STRONGER.
The conflict between the Ministry and the Works Committee began at the beginning of February when the Committee announced, after learning from Ribera Salud that the regional Ministry of Health had asked the Social Court 1 of Elche to challenge the collective agreement just a few days before they were due to sit down to negotiate the new one. From there, a series of protests were called that culminated last week with massive participation, the same day that there was a vote on whether or not there would be a strike, which was overwhelmingly yes.
