Final signature of SAAS hospital's collective bargaining agreement pending due to detailed revisions on

The SAAS hospital's collective bargaining agreement is still awaiting final signature due to ongoing refinements to performance-based bonuses (DPO), despite endorsements from workers, management, the government, and the Labour Inspectorate.

Hospital director general Meritxell Cosan said Thursday that the process is advancing in an "express format," though slightly behind initial expectations. She praised the SAAS-delegated interventora for identifying insufficient detail on DPOs in the draft, prompting changes to ensure legal security. "The interventora is doing her job, reviewing the agreement line by line so we do not make a mistake when signing it definitively," Cosan explained. She noted that the initial draft had deferred DPO specifics to a later paritary commission to accelerate progress, but Intervenció insisted on resolving them upfront. Cosan emphasised alignment between management and the workers' committee majority, urging caution to prevent formal errors.

Workers' committee president Eva Font echoed this, confirming that certain elements required clearer definitions, leading to revisions and partial procedural resets. The team finalised the economic section before 30 September to fit the 2026 budget cycle, then moved to non-financial aspects. The nearly 100-page document, including annexes, faces sequential reviews by the intervention department, board of directors, and Labour Inspectorate—each potentially taking a month amid competing workloads. Font called the 9-10 month timeline "agile and practically express," contrasting it with the 2022 agreement's year-long process. She expressed gratitude for participants' patience and predicted imminent rollout with full legal protections.

Earlier union accounts had pointed to an unnamed interventora as the hold-up, with USdA health branch representative Àlex Bandera noting workers sought reasons from Cosan, who referred them to the interventora without elaboration.

Some provisions, including work-life balance improvements, have been in effect since 1 January.

Separately, a mid-April hearing looms for the collective lawsuit by about 150 staff seeking retroactive DPO payments from 2012-2022. A Tuesday information session outlined delays from judge changes and procedural issues since its original June slot. Lawyer Eduard Coll described the postponements as "inexplicable," highlighting an initial 21-24 witnesses reduced to six by a recent ruling he has challenged. SAAS defence accepts a bonus-unfreezing decree but claims a subsequent agreement omits them; Coll argues rights persist without explicit worker waivers. He criticised management and the ministry for dodging negotiations, noting the career plan covers roughly 30% of the supplement while bonuses make up 70%, and warned that delays are fuelling widespread anxiety.