Unyielding, following an agreement

The workers of the nursing homes of Gipuzkoa, including those of the Iurreamendi de Tolosa residence and the Santiago de Amasa-Villabona residence, will fight for the end of the year. In order to achieve a dignified agreement, the year has passed with stoppages and, if no agreement is reached, the year will end on strike. In December, they served on strike day 158. The strike, called by the ELA trade union, will continue until 10 January.

The members of the Gipuzkoa residences have been negotiating for almost three years, but they have not achieved any results. The trade unions are calling for an improvement in the working conditions of 5,000 workers in the sector, who are calling for a wage hike and an improvement in ratios. However, the negotiations have not been made to wait.

ELA denounces that the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa has blocked the negotiations: ‘It finances 90% of the sector and subsidises the increase in corporate profits at the expense of part-time recruitment and the final wage gap of workers in the sector’.

In early November UGT reached a "partial" agreement with the employers, but the other unions have said they will continue to fight until a full employment pact is reached.

Fighting agreements

The year began with negotiations between graphic and paper workers and court cleaners and police stations in Gipuzkoa, among others. However, over the years, the three sectors have reached an agreement with the employers and, with days of strike, they work normally.

The longest fight has been that of the cleaners of the courts and police stations of Gipuzkoa. After 281 days of strike, on 26 June they reached an agreement with Garbialdi. Strikers have called for the elimination of the wage gap they suffer, above all, compared to road cleaning workers. The agreement provides for a reduction of the wage gap for road cleaning workers of 70% in the case of the Basque Country. In addition, Garbialdi recognized them that they work in toxic conditions and in painful jobs, so they have decided that their total salary is a plus equal to 20%.

The situation in the graphic arts sector was different from the outset, as the workers claimed that the sector was ‘in good condition’. However, the previous convention was about to end, and the unions and employers Adegi started the process of renewing the convention earlier this year. In view of the persistence of the situation, eight days of strike have been held throughout the year, and at the end of October the renewal of the convention was agreed. However, ELA did not support this agreement, since, in its view, LAB signed an agreement that ‘is far from claims’, and there was ‘a beacon for greater achievements’.

The workers in the Gipuzkoa paper sector have also fought for a new agreement without seeing improvements in their offers by the employers. The trade unions also stated that the situation in this sector is ‘very good’, and fought for an agreement that ‘allocates the wealth generated by the workers in the sector and advances in their rights’. LAB and CCOO signed the pact last July after six days of strike. The workers of the companies Aralar de Amezketa, Ahlstrom Munksjö de Berastegi and Oria de Zizurkil joined the strike. In this case, ELA did not sign either.

No public hospital, in favor of public health

In Gipuzkoa, Tolosaldea remains the only region without public hospitals. The Tolosaldea Osasun Publikoa Alde platform has already said earlier that Osakidetza has a historic debt to our region. The Clínica de la Asunción functioned for years as a complement to the Hospital de Donostialdea, but after the agreement signed with the Department of Health of the Basque Government, since 2011 it is the reference center of the region. The clinic receives EUR 21 million a year to cover the health needs of the population of Tolosaldea and, according to the members of the TOPA, ‘it does not have adequate infrastructure or staff to provide that public service’.

According to the conclusions of the study carried out on the budget of the Basque Government for 2017, Osakidetza makes an expenditure of 555 euros per inhabitant of the region. Comparatively, it is observed that EUR 160 less is spent on the health care of the population of Tolosaldea than the average spent on the population of other counties in one year. The members of the platform say that the 2018 and 2019 budgets have maintained this trend, so they claim EUR 70 million to Osakidetza.

Over the years the situation has not improved. Before the summer, the Clínica de la Asunción de Tolosa was discussed, since the PNV made public its position favorable to the construction of the hospital. Since then, the TOPA coordinator has worked on the research of the medical professionals of the clinic of the Asunción. Last year it was reported that several clinic professionals left their job and there were changes in the center: “In the past year and a half there have been 30 medical changes in the clinic.” Now, after ratifying the information with the College of Physicians of Gipuzkoa, they have made a clear complaint: Doctors from the Asunción Clinic work without the necessary approval.

In the last month, the TOPA has published several numbers: among others, “100% of the specialists who work in anesthesia and resuscitation in Osakidetza have an approved title, while 43% of the specialists in Asunción have the approval”.

Since the beginning of 2011, the TOPA has been calling for a "dignified" health service for Tolosaldea for almost nine years and betting on equating it with the rest of the counties.