“"Today we are here to demand equality and justice for the fixed-term staff to be phased out from the healthcare concessions of the Comunitat Valenciana. We have been working for years with professionalism and commitment, performing the same functions and assuming the same responsibilities as our colleagues in the public health system. However, we continue to suffer differences in our working and salary conditions. Our demand is clear: equal work, equal pay. We do not want privileges or preferential treatment; we demand an end to discrimination and the equalization of our rights. We ask the Conselleria de Sanitat for dialogue and real solutions. We are not second-class staff. We are professionals who sustain the Valencian public healthcare every day. Today we raise our voices to claim what is just: respect, equality, and salary parity. No forgetting, no discrimination! Equal work, equal pay!"
Dénia healthcare staff demand labor and salary parity
Around 850 workers from the Dénia Health Department are demanding better working and salary conditions from the Conselleria after the reversion.
By Pau Ferrer Castelló
••4 min read
IA
Generic image of healthcare personnel protesting in front of a hospital.
Approximately 850 workers from the Dénia Health Department have gathered today outside Dénia Hospital to demand parity in working and salary conditions with statutory staff from the Conselleria de Sanidad.
Around 85 workers gathered peacefully outside the Dénia Hospital to demand from the Conselleria de Sanidad the labor and salary parity for fixed-term staff to be phased out with statutory staff, following the deadlock in their agreements. The mobilization, called by the unions UGT País Valencià, CESM-CV, and SAE, took place under the slogan «The fixed-term worker to be phased out also exists».
During the protest, protest signs were displayed and the slogan «Same work, same conditions» was chanted. A National Police officer took photographs of the demonstrators, stating that «I also have to report to my superiors».
The mobilization at Dénia Hospital coincided with a centralized protest in front of the Palau de la Generalitat, in València, by the Works Councils of the Health Departments of Alzira, Torrevieja, and Manises, highlighting a discontent affecting various departments reverted by the Conselleria.
The collective of fixed-term staff to be phased out at the Dénia Health Department, which retains the conditions of the former concessionaire Marina Salud, consisted of approximately 1,000 workers in February 2024. Currently, the number has decreased to about 850 employees, according to unions like UGT and SAE. This reduction is due to the flight of professionals to other public health departments in the Comunitat Valenciana offering better remuneration and stability. Gaudencio Moncho, a representative from UGT, has highlighted the human drama of this situation, affecting workers rooted in the area who are forced to relocate to find decent conditions.
The unions report that the negotiation table with the Conselleria de Sanitat has been paralyzed since February 2024, with no labor or salary improvements in two years. Sonia Morales, a union delegate for SAE, explains that recent meetings have only served to gather data, delaying the process. The situation creates significant comparative grievance, with salary differences of up to 300-400 euros per month for a fixed-term professional with a G2 career grade compared to a newly incorporated statutory colleague.
Among the staff's demands, which include improved conditions, agreement negotiations, and voluntary «statutarization», is the possibility for workers who wish to do so to integrate into the regulatory framework of the Generalitat Valenciana's statutory staff. Unlike the La Ribera department, the hospitals of Dénia, Torrevieja, and Manises continue with outdated labor frameworks.
The Works Council has a key meeting scheduled for next Monday, June 15, at the Conselleria de Sanitat. Gaudencio Moncho (UGT) has indicated that if concrete responses are not provided, the calendar of mobilizations will continue.
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