The Sindicato Médico Unido (SMU) was formed in October from the association Médicos Unidos por sus Derechos (MUD). It is now pressing ahead with a national doctors’ strike scheduled to run for 12 consecutive days, from 16 through 27 November 2026. The union’s action is part of a wider dispute over pay and working hours. It also concerns rest periods and continuity of care. Continuing education remains part of the dispute, as do career progression and retirement.
The union’s call follows an early election announcement. CESM and UMYF had called off an indefinite stoppage due to begin on 28 October, arguing that continuing during the election process made little sense. SMU rejected that decision and asked its members whether they were willing to keep striking. The parliamentary draft to revise the general Estatuto Marco reportedly expired on 6 October. Reporting on the parliamentary situation on 9 November said there was no active legislative process for a separate statute for doctors.
Vice-president Samuel García Rubio says doctors have a limited opportunity to press for better working conditions. He argues that strikes are the pressure the government understands. The union says its members’ responses supported continuing the action.
At the centre of the dispute is the Estatuto Marco. SMU wants a separate Estatuto del Médico that recognises the specific conditions of medical work and sets a common baseline across Spain, rather than regulating doctors only under the general framework for health-service staff. The proposed statute would cover salaries and working hours. Rest periods and continuity of care would also be addressed. It would cover continuing education and career development, as well as retirement. The wider protests began after the Ministry of Health and unions represented in the Ámbito de Negociación agreed on a version of the Estatuto Médico that doctors rejected.
The election means the Estatuto Marco will not proceed through the legislative process, according to the supplied account. The draft that had reached Congress concerned the framework statute for statutory personnel across health services, not an autonomous statute exclusively for doctors. SMU says it wants negotiations with the next government. García Rubio has also pointed to the Real Decreto de los MIR as an example of legislation that could, in the union’s view, exclude doctors from the existing framework and require a new statute.
While national legislation is pending, SMU is asking autonomous communities to open profession-specific negotiating tables and take immediate measures. It also wants earmarked public funding for improvements. The union is calling for a 35-hour working week where it does not yet exist, alongside staffing levels sufficient to meet care needs without routinely relying on doctors to work beyond their capacity.
In Madrid, the official strike notice covers doctors and resident physicians in public health facilities, regardless of contract type. It includes statutory and civil-service contracts, as well as employment contracts. The notice sets the first phase from 8:00 a.m. on 16 November to 8:00 a.m. on 28 November, with minimum services in place. The national timetable runs through 27 November. In Galicia, the Xunta set minimum services at 100% for urgent care during that first phase.
The strike is separate from Madrid’s Acampada 26S dispute covered in RUSSPAIN.COM’s earlier camp report. For the doctors’ action, SMU has planned demonstrations across the autonomous communities at 18:00 on 19 November. Valencia’s demonstration is scheduled for 18 November. Doctors in A Mariña are also preparing to join the 12-day national strike to demand a statute regulating their working conditions.
