IMSS workers reject 6.8% raise as Sheinbaum vows to fix medicine shortages
Members of the IMSS workers' union, SNTSS, voted to reject a 6.8% across-the-board pay increase.
The union has asked labor authorities to push the strike deadline back to Nov. 15 so negotiations can continue. The rejection does not mean a strike has begun.
Beyond pay, workers are demanding an end to medicine and supply shortages and more staff.
Speaking in Campeche, President Sheinbaum promised to modernize the public health system and said she would deal with the shortages personally.
Workers at the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) have voted to reject a 6.8% across-the-board pay raise, keeping up pressure on the federal government after weeks of protests over wages and conditions in public hospitals.
SNTSS leader Rafael Olivos Hernández said talks with the institute need to resume so other options can be considered, ABC Noticias reported. The union has asked the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registration to extend the deadline for a possible strike to Nov. 15. El Imparcial reported that some workers are now seeking a raise of 10%.
Aside from pay, workers are demanding more medicines and supplies, faster filling of prescriptions and more staff in clinics. In recent weeks IMSS staff have marched and blocked roads in Mexico City and several states, Expansión reported.
President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about the health system on Saturday at the reopening of a renovated IMSS-Bienestar general hospital in Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche. IMSS-Bienestar is a separate system that serves people without social security. According to Proceso, she promised to modernize the entire health system, with a focus on digitization. Infobae reported that she proposed cutting red tape in medical purchasing and digitizing public medicine warehouses, with teams of recent graduates from public universities doing the work.
IMSS director Zoé Robledo did not attend the event because he was in talks with the unions, Infobae reported.
Sources: ABC Noticias, Publimetro, El Imparcial, Expansión Política, Proceso, Infobae.