Nursing professionals gathered this Tuesday in front of the Santa Caterina hospital in Salt to demand labor improvements on the occasion of International Nurses Day. During the protest, several participants covered their mouths with adhesive tape and then removed it to symbolize that they are no longer silent about the situation they denounce in healthcare centers.
The mobilization coincided with a paradox that the collective wanted to highlight on a date significant for the profession. The day that should have served to recognize their work turned into a day of protest for the lack of staff, insufficient ratios, chronic overload, and instability that, they maintain, they have been dragging for years.
Satse took the Salt protest to Barcelona, Tarragona and Lleida
The concentration before the Salt center was coordinated with simultaneous mobilizations at the Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona, the Joan XXIII in Tarragona, and the Arnau de Vilanova in Lleida. Satse wanted to give a Catalan dimension to a protest focused on the working conditions of nursing staff.
David Oliver, secretary of Satse in Girona and spokesperson for the nursing union in Catalonia, placed the meaning of the call on the date itself. The union maintained that International Nurses Day arrived marked by protest and not by celebration.
"Today should be a celebration, but for years now we haven't been able to celebrate anything and that's why we're taking advantage of the day to demand decent conditions" - David Oliver, secretary of Satse in Girona and spokesperson for the nursing union in Catalonia
The union denounces a lack of staff, insufficient ratios, and a sustained workload over time. To this, it adds the chaining of short-term contracts, which in its opinion generates instability, and stabilization processes that, it emphasizes, arrive late and poorly.
Oliver warned that assaults are increasing while prevention is not enough
In addition to working conditions, Satse linked the protest to safety in daily work. Oliver stated that aggressions against healthcare personnel are increasing while prevention and protection measures do not cover that reality.
Nurses warn that work pressure affects them physically, psychologically, and emotionally. They also warn that patient safety cannot rely on the permanent overexertion of staff they consider insufficient.
For now, the union does not plan to call a strike. The reason, as it explains, is that a minimum services decree could end up requiring more professionals than those who usually work in shifts due to staff shortages.
Oliver claimed from the Government more investment in healthcare and dialogue with the sector to reverse the consequences of the cuts and update labor conditions. In that same line, he asked for resources to guarantee, in his words, better care for everyone.
The central gesture of the protest in Santa Caterina consisted of covering their mouths with adhesive tape and then removing it, an image with which the participants wanted to symbolize their decision to break the silence.