Spanish unions call first-ever strikes in the history of Social Security

For the first time in history, workers at Spanish social security centres will go on strike after the CC OO and CSIF unions called for industrial action.

In a joint statement released this Thursday, May 11, union officials blamed their action on: “the deterioration of one of the public services with the greatest demand from the public”.

“The lack of personnel, the ageing of the workforce, the delay in the management of benefits and the non-compliance with laws and agreements regarding personnel force us to call the first strike in the history of this organisation”, they said.

🚨 La plantilla de la Seguridad Social está llamada a la primera huelga de su historia

📢 El colapso por la falta de personal perjudica a la ciudadanía, a los trabajadores/as y altera al ministro @joseluisescriva, que sigue sin poner soluciones.

Nos vemos abocados a la huelga👇 pic.twitter.com/VBNXXkEXyl

— CSIF Nacional (@CSIFnacional) May 11, 2023

Strike action will take place every Friday in May, from 10:30am to 11:30am, followed by a 24-hour strike in September according to the union statement.

They criticised the ‘lack of commitment’ by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, claiming it has caused a ‘chaotic’ situation in which they can only ‘raise the level of demand’.

CSIF insisted that this ‘lack of commitment’ showed that the ‘constant evolution’ of proposals for agreements on a Strategic Plan for Social Security had  ‘failed’ from the beginning.

There had also been a lack of incentive character and a lack of any real diagnosis of the situation they added.

The union also complained about the lack of measures for the organisation of human resources, through the creation of the Social Security Agency.

They highlighted the problems with everything related to remote work, work calendar, training, prevention, productivity, action social security, provision of jobs, application of additional funds, internal promotion, partial retirement, job stability and public employment offer.

CC OO lamented the ‘unwillingness’ of the department to provide a negotiated solution to the problems that affect both the staff and the citizens as a whole.

These included a lack of personnel, delays in appointments and in the recognition of benefits, and the closure of offices. They also pointed to the non-fulfilment of commitments regarding the provision of posts, occupational risk prevention, productivity, training, and internal promotion.

Union officials from CC OO said that the Strategic Plan for Social Security had failed from the outset due to the absence of a real diagnosis of the situation.

There had also been a shortage of real incentives and a lack of a vocation for compliance in the short or long term the union claimed.

“Faced with this chaotic situation, we are forced to raise the level of demands. We regret it, but at this time it is the best option for the recovery of serious and dignified commitments for the templates and to provide a decent service to citizens”, CC OO reiterated.

Yesterday, Wednesday 10, Social Security brought in a scheme that will pay six euros for each citizen attended to by workers assigned to direct care who want to join a voluntary plan that will be launched immediately to decongest the appointment system.

This is an urgent plan being implemented alongside the incorporation and training of 4,000 new workers with whom it is planned to reinforce the ranks of Social Security staff.

In recent months, in the face of criticism from the opposition, José Luis Escrivá, the Minister of Inclusion and Social Security, reiterated in Parliament that they were working on extending the opening hours and on other measures to speed up and meet the demands of the agency.

However, the convening unions indicated that the measures to be addressed are ‘of greater significance’ in terms of the organisation of human resources and the integration of the different Social Security entities into one agency, as reported by 20minutos.es.