42 toilets urge the TSJC to annul the "exclusive requirement" of Catalan in opposition to the Catalan Institute of Health

• Health The Generalitat files the nurse who censured "having the fucking C-1 of Catalan" to get the oppositions

Bilingualism continues with its battle to occupy spaces in the Catalan public administration just as it has in society.

While the judicial process opened for the recognition of students to receive classes in both languages ​​lasts, another front has been initiated

their rights and that Catalan is not an "exclusive requirement" in the personnel selection processes opened by the Catalan Health Institute (ICS).

At the end of last December, the Department of Health of the Generalitat began the process of stabilization of the ICS workforce through merit and opposition competitions in different categories.

To opt for them, like all the Catalan public service, it is necessary to provide a certificate of knowledge of Catalan, which depending on the category to which you aspire will be one type of accreditation or another, or pass a previous exam if you do not have one. of this degree.

Specifically, for nursing professionals it would be the C1 certificate as a health worker from the Vall de Hebrón hospital criticized on social networks a few days ago.

For this reason, the Generalitat opened a file on her and the nurse, of Cádiz origin, has had to request sick leave due to the

, with warnings even from the Minister of Health himself. The decision to make this requirement certificate of high knowledge is surprising considering the "endemic deficit" of nurses that Catalonia has, since every year other communities, mainly Andalusia, must be resorted to to cover temporary contracts.

However, there are professionals in the health field who have decided to step forward and start a legal process to eliminate the requirement of Catalan to attend these oppositions.

In this way, 42 ICS employees, represented by the entities Hablamos Español and Convivencia Cívica Catalana, have filed a contentious administrative claim before the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) in which they claim to annul "as an exclusive requirement to participate in the summons accredit a level of Catalan" or, in case of not having it, "a previous qualifying exam of Catalan".

health discrimination

The president of Convivencia Cívica Catalana,

details that "an important group of ICS workers, of all categories, have decided to challenge the call for staff stabilization on the grounds that requiring a high level of Catalan in order to participate is discriminatory." .

In this sense, he recalls that "42 Catalan hospital and outpatient workers who have been working for more than seven years (some twenty) and who may now lose their job because they do not have level C of Catalan. We understand that demanding a high level of Catalan for this call it is unnecessary: ​​if you really needed to have it to carry out your work, those 42 employees would not be working at ICS today".

The plaintiffs demand that the TSJC annul the call regarding the language requirement.

Escolano recalls that some of these professionals have been working in Catalan hospitals for 20 years "and he has never needed it, it shows that it is an unnecessary requirement and that the only thing he seeks is to create a barrier to prevent professionals from the rest of Spain from taking the opposition in Catalonia They use Catalan as an entry barrier".

A few months ago, Hablamos Español and Convivencia Cívica Catalana began a free legal advice campaign for Nursing professionals and other non-care categories, such as administrative staff, who want to stabilize their place in the Catalan Health system without having a C1 certificate. Catalan.

These entities point out that "the places that go out to the competition carry with them the backpack of the title of knowledge of Catalan" and that while some professionals must provide a B1 or a B2;

most of them, including Nursing professionals, "nothing less than a C1, which is the title required in some autonomous communities 'to teach classes in English. In other communities teachers can teach with a B2".

lack of proportionality

The entities point out that, according to the call, they must provide a Catalan degree or pass an exam from medical specialists, nurses or administrators, to hairdressers, cooks or maintenance technicians.

Hablamos Español and the Catalan Civic Coexistence recall that Salut offers 1,590 places in merit competition and 605 in opposition competition for the stabilization process for Nursing professionals.

"Many of these professionals arrived in Catalonia from other parts of Spain during the Covid pandemic. The health authorities did not ask them for a Catalan degree because the need was urgent due to the health emergency situation," they recall.

Despite this, they denounce that "after three years working in the Catalan health system, they can access this call for job stabilization, but they will be required to have a C1, despite the fact that no language has prevented them from carrying out their work until now" .

Faced with this situation, the entities have initiated a contentious lawsuit taking into account the lack of proportionality and the violation of fundamental rights when asking for Catalan to aspire to public service and thus overcome the "provisional employment".

In addition, the entities emphasize that the 42 health professionals are active and "have demonstrated their full capacity to carry out their work, and that now they find themselves with an unfair and arbitrary language barrier in order to stabilize their position."

The demand indicates that "the level of Catalan required in each and every one of the categories object of the call is disproportionate and totally unjustified, having been awarded by mere automatism. These are jobs that are being performed by workers with full satisfaction and who in many cases do not have any level of Catalan".

No job stability

"A requirement is being imposed to participate in the calls that prevents any Spanish citizen who has not studied in Catalonia and who does not have the required level of knowledge of Catalan, excessive for the functions to be performed, from participating in the selection process. Thus , through this language requirement, all the applicant employees who currently provide their services for her and who do not have the required level of Catalan, will not be able to participate in the call and will not be able to acquire permanent status, despite the fact that many of them have been interim" decades, point out the plaintiffs.

The associations also highlight that "the Catalan health administration is, therefore, imposing a difference in treatment between Spaniards for reasons of language, clearly detrimental to article 14 of our Magna Carta. Among the 42 professionals are surgeons, maintenance personnel, nurses, auxiliaries, doctors, orderlies, technicians and biologists. They currently work in Can Ruti, Vall d'Hebron, Bellvitge and in Health Centres".

Now the TSJC must examine this contentious claim and decide whether to process it together with another filed by the Civic Coexistence in January against the same public call but considering that it violates fundamental rights, such as the principle of equal access to public service "at unjustifiably demanding the level of Catalan".

The plaintiffs consider that there is possible discrimination by the Generalitat by requesting knowledge of Catalan as a mandatory requirement in a public service, even though patients can express themselves in both languages.

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