Members of the services union ver.di have taken strike action in three hospitals as part of the union's campaign to tackle excessive workloads in the sector. The targeted hospitals in Düsseldorf, Ottweiler in Saarland and Dachau, near Munich are respectively public, non-profit and private and ver.di says that none of the three employers has been willing to discuss a collective agreement to reduce workloads. In the meantime, health workers across Germany will be supporting the union's campaign to set limits on workloads and try to reduce the pressure on workers to skip their breaks, to be called out on their free days or build up large amounts of overtime.
Health workers in further action over workloads
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Health workers in series of actions over pay and workloads
University Medical Centre (UMC) workers across the country have been taking action to highlight their concerns about workloads and to put pressure on the employers to restart negotiations that have been stalled since the end of May. Members of the FNV and NU'91 trade unions have been involved in short work stoppages, demonstrations and working to rule in Groningen, Utrecht, Maastricht, Leiden and other cities. The unions are calling for a decent pay rise, urgent action to reduce excessive workloads and to recruit more young workers. The UMC collective agreement covers around 60000 workers.
Hospitals refuse to negotiate on reducing workloads
Health services union ver.di is considering all-out strike action following the refusal of management at the Düsseldorf and Essen university hospitals to negotiate an agreement to tackle excessive workloads (see two previous editions of epsucob@NEWS). The union had been discussing various measures to tackle staff shortages and overwork and it had welcomed an initiative by the employers to take on 100 extra staff. Further talks were expected but then to ver.di's surprise on 14 August the employers announced that they wouldn't be seeking to negotiate an agreement. Ver.di will continue to press
Ambulance workers plan further action
The FNV union is planning a new round of actions in the ambulance sector as it continues its long-running campaign to improve pay and conditions and address excessive workloads. The union has called on the employers to negotiate a plan with concrete measures including a commitment to a specific deadline to deal with staff shortages; reducing overtime and additional work; complying with the collective agreement in relation to breaks and the reduction of external hiring and subcontracting; and an agreement to increase salaries in line with other parts of the health sector.