Helios clinics staff is on strike Tuesday

Tariff dispute at the Helios clinics - strike on Tuesday

08/06/2012

For years, the hospital staff complained more about over-compensation. Restructuring in the hospital sector is also a reason for strikes and demonstrations. At the Helios Kliniken in Schwerin and Leezen, around 200 service employees are expected to quit work tomorrow.

One of the reasons for the strike at Helios Kliniken is the planned restructuring of the service company Helios Service Nord GmbH (HSN). The former company is to be divided into five smaller companies from the first of September. The staff consequences for the remuneration. The union Verdi therefore calls for a transfer collective agreement for the approximately 650 service employees in the kitchen, cleaning, storage, collection and delivery service.

„In the wage dispute with the HSN, the unions Verdi and IG Bau call the workers on Tuesday 07 August again in Schwerin and Leezen on a full-day warning strike“, so the current message from Verdi. On Tuesday morning, around 200 employees of Helios Kliniken are expected to attend a rally at the main station in Schwerin. Employees temporarily stop working and demonstrate their interest in the planned restructuring of the HSN, Verdi reported Monday.

Last week, the service employees of Helios Kliniken Schwerin and Leezen had already gone on strike to reach a transfer collective agreement for the planned changes. The wages of the 650 service employees should not only be ensured, but the hospital staff also demands a significant improvement in pay. With the all-day warning strike, the employees hope to increase the pressure to act on the persons responsible at Helios Kliniken Schwerin and Leezen.

Poverty wages for service personnel of Helios Kliniken?
The unions criticize the current approach of Helios clinics massively. „Instead of sitting down to talk to us about collective bargaining, Helios once again knows only one answer: splitting structures and outsourcing employees“, criticized Verdi spokeswoman Diana Markiwitz. With the planned restructuring, the workforce will be smashed; the structure is reduced; Tariff work and employee participation remains difficult, the Verdi spokeswoman continues. On the first warning trip day at the end of July, around 150 employees had already signaled very clearly what they think of the refusal attitude on the part of Helios. The Fresenius Group - the owner of Helios Kliniken - wants its shareholders to receive a total of around 155 million euros from the 2011 financial year „serve“ and take „At the same time, they accept that employees in service companies at Helios work at poverty wages of, for example, € 6.39 or € 6.90 in Schwerin“, Verdi criticized in the latest release. (Fp)