The common denominator among these doctors is the Coalition of Pemex resident doctors, a union-like organization made up of at least 300 health professionals who have an employment relationship with the oil company. David, a first-year medical resident, is a spokesperson for the organization. Two of his colleagues, a specialist in internal medicine and another in anesthesiology, who also served as representatives of the coalition, were also fired among the remaining 30.
The other part of the contracts that were not renewed correspond to residents who had contact with the media, gave interviews or started a legal process against the oil company, after last December they took to the streets to protest a cut in their bonuses They will lift a strike of about two months and begin a conciliation process with the company to demand an improvement in their benefits.
The process concluded without any improvement in salary and benefits, but with the firm slogan that there would be no reprisals against those who came out that December to demonstrate. But the “major reprisal” came yesterday, says Abigail Quiroz Vargas, legal adviser to the doctors fired by Pemex, referring to the dismissal of the practitioners.
“From the beginning, since the work groups began, our main concern was that there would be no reprisals, because there were already threats and constant attacks on us from some doctors,” David says in a phone call. “It was in writing, we have several working minutes where it was established that there would be no reprisals and that we were going to comply with our entire contract based on our specialty.”
Pemex reduced the salary of resident doctors by 60%
David would have to start his second year in the medical emergency specialty tomorrow, but now he has nowhere to do it. “The consequences are great for us, we stay adrift, (Pemex) pays attention to our academic and personal development.”
The state company, Quiroz explains, published an agreement last March – of which the residents were unaware – in which their salaries were significantly reduced.
The annual salary for a first-year resident went from 152,737 pesos to 63,097 pesos, a reduction of almost 60%. The oil company decided to replace the amount it took from salary with bonuses, as part of a common practice carried out by some companies to evade paying taxes and thus reduce their budget items dedicated to labor.
“They pay taxes differently in salary and benefits, there are benefits that the law calls of a social nature and are tax-free, so the company reduces the amount that it will pay in taxes when it disguises the salary as these benefits,” says the lawyer led by the Decent Work Foundation.
The residents realized the change, they explain, when they received their bonus at the end of last year for 2,500 pesos. This benefit should have been higher, based on his monthly salary, around 14,000 pesos.
The claim of the doctors is based on the latter. As part of the legal strategy, the practitioners also allude that the state company is violating their right to freedom of association. “If that happens in a state company, what can we expect from a private company”, says Quiroz.
Whats Next?
The lawyer explains that the oil company is obliged to guarantee residents a contract for the entire duration of their residence, whatever the specialty, and that it can last four years: “They are not basic, they are temporary, but depending on the duration of your specialty it is the time of the contract.”
Quiroz, on behalf of the doctors, initiated an amparo proceeding before the Second District Court for Labor Matters in Mexico City, which was dismissed just one day after he entered the court. The appeal was not studied, says the lawyer.
Now the resident doctors have asked the Supreme Court to bring the case, with no response so far. The doctors have also already initiated proceedings before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.