Another strike at the Berlin Hospital Charité

Again workers strike at the University Hospital Charité

12/09/2011

Employees at the University Hospital Charité in Berlin are striking again. The indefinite strike began early in the morning. For the labor dispute of the approximately 1800 employees of the clinic subsidiary Charité Facility Management (CFM), the United Services Union Verdi has called. To solidarize with the strikers, another 750 staff members of the Charité main hospital joined the labor dispute.

Strike of the hospital service staff
The renowned Berlin hospital Charité is again on strike. Already at the beginning of May this year, around 1,500 nurses, technical staff and cleaners had been on strike at the University Hospital Charité and at the Virchow-Klinikum. The strike could be ended after a good week with an agreement. The employees of the subsidiary Charité Facility Management (CFM) have been striking again at three different locations since Monday morning at 5:00 am, as trade unionist and negotiator Sylvi Krisch (Verdi) stated in a press release. To lend weight to the demands, since today also about 750 employees of the main company Charité have joined the labor dispute. Since 10.00 clock there is a demonstration and rally on the grounds of the hospital in Berlin-Mitte. Due to the shift services, about 300 to 400 people will join the strike every day, as the Verdi activist explained. In a pre-ballot vote, a large majority of 98.6 percent of the service staff had spoken out in favor of the strike.

The CFM subsidiary employs workers mainly in the service sector. They take care of the provision of patient care, work in the lab, transport the sick, clean the patient rooms and operating theaters, and work in the in-house security. In dispute with the management, the service trade union wants to enforce a collective agreement. So far, only a house contract was awarded to CFM employees. However, Verdi demands for the strikers a uniform wage and an increase in gross wages by at least 168 euros per month. Previously, all negotiations for the non-medical staff between Verdi and the management had failed.

Verdi calls for wage increases and uniform collective agreements
Verdi accuses the hospital management - as happened in the past - a „Temporary play“ in front. „The Tariff Commission again calls on the management to make a negotiable offer immediately and stop the tactics at the expense of the service personnel and ultimately the patients“, such a spokeswoman for the union. The red-red Berlin Senate demands Verdi, „To put the profit thinking of the minority shareholders in their place and to let reason and sense of responsibility prevail“. The Charité is owned by the state of Berlin and is thus subject to politics.

Since the end of May, both parties are already negotiating. The CFM had repeatedly rejected the union's demand in the negotiations. Finally, they offered to pay for the eight unpaid overtime hitherto. Accordingly, according to the management is a „significant increase in wages“ already been offered. For a few employees, a holiday allowance, a slight increase in vacation days and minimum wages below average wages were offered as an offer. The employee side rejected the proposals as inadequate.

No emergency service agreement
According to the union, there is no emergency service agreement. Accordingly, there could be bottlenecks in the hospital care. The medical care of patients, however, according to the union circles is not at risk. The CFM management or Charité has no comments. (Sb)

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