Approximately one hundred physicians marched along Mesa y López Avenue in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to express their discontent with the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS) offer during the regional strike called for Monday and Tuesday. The march, which began at the Naval Base and concluded at Plaza de España, was marked by protest slogans such as 'No health without doctors!' and 'Not vocation, it's exploitation!'.
Union representatives described the offer from the Canary Islands Health Department as insufficient and warned that mobilizations would continue if the collective's main demands were not met.
“"The proposal received «does not address even 3% of the demands» put forward by the physicians and has been interpreted as «a lack of respect». «We are here to tell the Canary Islands Health Service that we will not stop until we achieve our goals»."
Levy Cabrera Quintero, Secretary General of CESM Canarias, stated that the SCS document partially includes some claims related to on-call duty pay, but considers the proposed amounts to be far from the commitments announced by the Health Department itself. He detailed that improvements are proposed for weekday on-call duties but exclude Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, and special dates like Christmas, and the offered amounts are below the average of the three autonomous communities with the highest remuneration, a goal previously accepted by the Health Department.
Cabrera also criticized the lack of specificity regarding professional career progression. He recalled that one of the advancements achieved after the 2023 strike was the recognition of the fifth professional career level and the commitment to align Canarian remuneration with the average of the three best-paid communities. However, he denounced that the current proposal specifies neither amounts, deadlines, nor mechanisms to materialize this equalization.
Javier Luño, president of the Canarian Medical Employees Union (SEMCA), echoed this sentiment, justifying the call for two new strike days due to the absence of progress in negotiations. Luño advocated for the necessity of a dedicated negotiation forum for doctors, both at the state and regional levels, arguing that since the disappearance of their specific framework in 2003, the collective's working and remuneration conditions have deteriorated.
“"Doctors are a minority within the overall healthcare staff, and this limits our ability to negotiate our own working conditions."
Consequently, he requested a direct meeting with the Minister of Health, the Director of the Canary Islands Health Service, or, if necessary, with the President of the Canary Islands Government to address the sector's demands. The protest concluded with the organizers' commitment to maintain pressure until progress is made to resolve the conflict.
