Doctors begin their most intense strike against the framework statute

Doctors are called by six unions to a new strike against the reform of the framework statute that regulates the working conditions of the National Health System, a strike that begins this Monday and will last for one week a month until June.

With a demonstration in Madrid last Saturday attended by more than 5,000 people, the doctors kicked off this new calendar of protests and warned that they will not stop until they have their own statute; a mobilization in which they demanded the resignation of the minister, Mónica García.

“There is only one option, either it is rectified and doctors are allowed to have their own negotiation sphere or the Health Service will end up being dismantled and it will be left without doctors,” said Víctor Pedrero, from the Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions.

The agreed format for these strikes that begin this Monday is one week of strike per month from February to June, as the first stage.

The Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM), together with the Andalusian Medical Union (SMA), Metges de Catalunya (MC), the Association of Doctors and Higher Graduates of Madrid (AMYTS), the Medical Union of Euskadi (SME) and the Union of Independent Practitioners of Galicia (O’MEGA) are the organizers of the indefinite strike, which adds to the more than half a dozen protests supported in 2025 after running aground in its negotiations with Health.

And these organizations reject the proposal to reform the framework statute that the Ministry of Health agreed on January 26 with SATSE-FSES, CCOO, UGT and CSIF. They demand a document of their own for the medical profession, independent of the rest of the staff of the National Health System, and that includes the particularities of their professional practice.

Among their demands, a unique professional classification -creating a new A1 category-, a maximum working day of 35 hours per week in the morning on weekdays, and that anything that exceeds this is considered excess working hours, which must be voluntary and paid.

The request of these union organizations also includes a total or partial voluntary early retirement system or the prohibition of forced mobility, among other demands.

Health, however, defends the new text that includes – it emphasizes – substantial better jobs for all health personnel, professional classification, early retirement or conciliation, since it limits the working day to 45 hours and reduces on-call hours from 24 to 17 hours, among other measures.

Added to this week’s strike are concentrations called in front of hospitals and health centers throughout the territory, from Aragon, to the Valencian Community, Andalusia, Catalonia, the Empty Country, Extremadura, Galicia or Madrid.

The Strike Committee has insisted that the indefinite national strikes called for the coming months are the last option after numerous calls for attention to reach agreements that have been ignored.

The medical unions have apologized for the inconvenience that these strikes may cause to patients, but they insist that defending an improvement in the working conditions of professionals will allow for better quality of care.

The strikes are called for the week of February 16 to 20, March 16 to 20, April 27 to 30, May 18 to 22 and June 15 to 19.

The new text of the framework statute agreed between the Ministry of Health and the unions SATSE-FSES, CCOO, UGT and CSIF – unions in the area of ​​negotiation – will have to be submitted to the corresponding parliamentary processing.