Transparency & Corruption, Staffing levels, Greece, Croatia, Austria, Armenia

The GPA trade union is calling for urgent action on pay and conditions in health and care to deal with major anticipated shortages of nursing staff. A recent report by Health Austria says that there will be a shortfall of 200,000 nurses by 2050. The union underlines that better working conditions have to be part of the solution rather than look to recruit from third countries. GPA says that nurses are stretched to their limits with day-to-day care characterized by overtime, constant standing in for absent staff and a bureaucracy that leaves hardly any time for caring. These conditions lead to

The GÖD and younion public sector unions have been involved in the second round of bargaining over pay with the aim, as usual, to ensure that all public sector workers get a pay increase from 1 January. Alongside the surge in the cost of living the trade unions are underlining the increased burdens taken on by many workers, often as a result of staff shortages, as strong justification for a sustainable salary increase. The unions’ demands have been supported with a letter to the government negotiator from the head of the ÖGB trade union confederation. This highlights the massive contribution

The public sector unions representing health and social care workers, younion and GÖD, organised a protest outside the Ministry of Health earlier this month to warn of imminent burn out of the health sector. The unions are calling on the government to take urgent action on staff shortages and to convene a national health summit. Younion and GÖD presented new calculations on the growing staffing gap in the health sector with a national shortage of 3369 nurses in state, community and district hospitals, an increase of 19.2% compared to May of this year. With 986 vacancies for doctors, more

The GÖD and younion trade unions have formed a nationwide alliance for public health, calling on the federal government to act quickly and decisively to prevent the burnout of the public health system and above all to tackle the shortage of skilled workers across all occupational groups. The unions estimate an overall shortfall of around 26000 full-time workers. Their main demands include: adapting services to the number of employees by establishing reliable rosters to reduce the risk of overwork; applying a tax exemption on pay from the 32nd hour of the working week as a short-term measure to

After six months of negotiations, workers in church-run elderly care and nursing homes will get an 8% pay increase, along with a cost-of-living bonus of €1500 and a one-hour reduction in weekly working hours to 39 hours. The agreement covers around 3600 employees and the new monthly minimum wage will be set at €1850.76. The 8% increase translates into a 10.65% increase once the one-hour cut is taken into account. The vida trade union negotiated the agreement which it sees as bringing the church-based employer more in line with other collective agreements in the sector although it argues that

The HSSMS-MT nurses’ union with the support of the SSZSSH independent health workers’ union has been continuing its series of protests around the country, with a major demonstration planned for 12 May – International Nurses’ Day. The unions are angry that their members have been offered pay rises of only 3%-5% when doctors have been awarded 10% or more. The HSSMS-MT argues that staffing shortages are becoming acute with many workers leaving the sector because of low pay noting that hospital cooks and cleaners, for example, are on salaries below HRK 4000 (€500) a month.

The younion trade union reports that a trade union-backed petition calling for better pay and conditions in healthcare has been blocked by a parliamentary committee. The citizens' initiative, supported by over 70,000 signatories, called for action on the major problems facing the sector, including a demand for more training and better pay for trainees, a national assessment of staffing needs and recognition of nursing as an arduous occupation. The parliamentary committee on petitions and citizens' initiatives decided no further action would be taken in response to the petition, despite the

The POEDHN health workers’ union, supported by the ADEDY public sector trade union confederation, organised a national demonstration on 22 February with calls for urgent action on health service funding. The union is demanding increased staffing and measures to address the widespread use of precarious contracts across the health service. It is also continuing to campaign for better pay and conditions with many health workers facing low pay, often little more than the minimum wage. This is a long-term legacy of austerity with pay cuts imposed in 2009 and pay frozen since 2015.

After a strong turnout for its national warning strike in private hospitals, the vida trade union is calling on the employers to get negotiations going again and make a decent pay offer. The union wants a €2000 minimum monthly salary in the sector and a pay increase above inflation not just to support workers’ purchasing power but to bring the agreement more in line with others in healthcare. Vida is also calling for urgent action to improve pay and conditions as a step towards tackling the staffing shortage among midwives. As a first step the union wants to see all midwives to be covered by

The vida and GPA services unions have just launched their main demands in the “social economy” sector negotiations that cover 130,000 in private health and social care. The unions are calling for a pay increase that not only covers inflation (currently topping 9%), but also takes into account the hard work put in by employees over the past year. The unions also want to see more staff recruited and more free time, with the pandemic exposing the impact of staff shortages. They have a range of specific demands relating to overtime, job classifications and mileage allowances – all elements that

Public and private sector health trade unions – younion, GÖD, vida and GPA – are continuing their “health offensive” campaign with rallies across the country on 12 May. The unions, supported by the ÖGB trade union confederation, chamber of workers and Vienna chamber of doctors are calling for major reforms of the health system and urgent measures to improve pay and conditions. The unions argue that better pay and conditions are essential to tackle the staffing shortages that are posing a threat to services and are creating excessive workloads for health workers.

The ADEDY civil service trade union confederation has called a national strike on 6 April over pay, jobs and public sector funding. It argues that with inflation at a 25-year high of 7% public sector salaries need to be increased immediately. There has been no increase since 2009 when salaries for many public sector workers were cut by 40%. ADEDY is also calling for reinstatement of 13th and 14th month salary payments and an increase in, and extension to the special allowance for arduous and dangerous work. The confederation’s other demands include urgent action to recruit permanent staff to

Younion, representing staff in early years education and care (ECEC) in the public sector is organising protests across the country on 21 March in its continuing campaign to win improvements to the pay and conditions of workers in the sector. The union wants to see administrative tasks reduced and more support staff recruited to give workers more time with the children in their care. The other key demands cover increased recruitment overall, improved training, proper recognition of work in the sector, recognition of COVID-19 as an occupational disease and better representation of workers and

The public and private sectors unions representing staff in early years education (younion, vida and GPA) have come together to demand action at national level on staffing and safety in childcare institutions. The unions want to see unified, national regulations applied on issues like COVID-19 and increased staffing to ensure that childcare institutions can maintain safety for both workers and children. The pandemic is still having an impact and with staff falling ill or having to quarantine, the pressure of work continues to increase for an already overburdened group of workers.