Health investigators accuse the JFCA of preventing their strike from breaking out

jared laurels

Newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, October 27, 2022, p. 19

The Independent Union of Health Sciences Research Workers (Sitic-Salud) denounced the partial, malicious action and in favor of the employer by the Federal Board of Conciliation and Arbitration (JFCA), who rejected the outbreak of the strike that they would carry out yesterday with the argument that there are general acceptable working conditions for the investigators.

Alejandro Valdés Cruz, general secretary of the union organization, accused the labor authority of violating the workers’ right to strike, despite the fact that, he maintained, they have six executory resolutions from collegiate courts that recognize them as base employees governed by the section A, with the right to collective bargaining, unionization and strike.

In an interview, he explained that at the hearing last Friday they ratified the strike, but the JFCA asked the Sitic-Salud to demonstrate within 48 hours that it had 10 percent of affiliated workers of all the employees of five National Institutes of Health and High Specialty Hospitals (Inshae), not so for the around 1,400 researchers in medical sciences who are the only ones they represent.

For this reason, he indicated, the board determined to file the strike summons for the third time, and in view of this situation, he announced that they decided to protect themselves.

In one of the resolutions, the thirteenth collegiate court in labor matters granted protection to Sitic Salud and ordered the JFCA refrains from considering that given the existence of various general working conditions, the summons has no purpose and orders the file of the matter, and omits to analyze aspects related to the justification of the intended strike.

The investigators have accused the reluctance of the directors of the Inshae to negotiate the signing of a collective contract that guarantees them job stability. Throughout this process, they noted, the JFCA has overprotected those who represent the institutes, who have even described the strike as a feint for institutes, signal that criminalizes this constitutional rightsaid Yaaziel Melgarejo, a member of the union’s board of directors.

The board is turning around what was dictated by the Judiciary, and the claim to the STPS is whether they will ignore the contempt of the executions, which is a violation of union rightshe stated.