Catalonia hit by cross-sector protests

Thousands of doctors, nurses, teachers and taxi drivers took to the streets of Barcelona and other major Catalan cities on Wednesday, pointing out their poor working conditions and low wages.

Barcelona saw the protests of more than 15,000 doctors and nurses, according to official figures, to avoid, as they said, the collapse of the region’s health system.

Hundreds of taxi drivers also demonstrated in the Catalan capital against the regional government’s decision to approve more private-hire driver licences (VTC), mainly for platforms such as Cabify and Uber.

Meanwhile, more than 6,500 teachers, which included civil servants, interim teachers and education staff, demonstrated in Barcelona’s city centre. The teachers’ unions protested against the “extreme conditions” of the public education system and demanded the regional government invest more in it.

Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau of the left-wing party Barcelona en Comú expressed her support for the demonstrations and strikes.

“Public education and public health are two pillars of a democratic society that does not want to leave anyone behind,” she said.

“That is why our city’s neighbourhood associations have historically been at the forefront of defending these services, which must guarantee fundamental rights”, she added.

The protest comes at a time when the regional government is trying to reach an agreement with the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) to have a budget for 2023. Allocating more financial resources to social services is one of its priorities.

The region’s Health Minister Manel Balcells of the pro-independence ERC said on Wednesday that the regional government is open to dialogue with the local doctor’s union, Metges de Catalunya, to call off the strike.

The regional government has for years applied ‘low cost’ health policies and has constantly mistreated doctors, in a health system “dominated by managers trained in prestigious business schools”,  according to the union’s secretary-general, Xavier Lleonart.

Metges de Catalunya has called for additional strikes to be held from 1-3 February.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)

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