Solidarity, Working Time, Strike, Germany

Members of ver.di at the state-owned DAK health insurance company took strike action on Tuesday 12 March to put pressure on the company in the lead up to the third round of collective bargaining. DAK only marginally improved its offer in the second round of negotiations. Ver.di has called for a 12.5% pay increase with at least €555 more per month – for a term of 12 months. For trainees, there will be €250 more per month. DAK employs around 12,000 people nationwide and the next round of bargaining was due on 15 March.

The ver.di trade union continues to negotiate with employers in the private and non-profit health sector to tackle staff shortages. The latest success comes after 19 days of strike action at the Jewish Hospital in Berlin where staffing levels will be stipulated across most areas of operation and employees will get compensation in the form of additional days off if the hospital fails to abide by the agreement. If workers are in stressful situations because of staff shortages they accumulate points which can mount up to be taken as time off. The agreement will apply from December 2024. Public

The ver.di trade union starts the new year with a demand for better working hours and working conditions, more money and more staff across the public services and is launching a campaign and survey on working hours among public sector employees. In local public transport the union is calling for a reduction in weekly working hours, additional relief days for shift and night work and an increase in holiday entitlement. Ver.di also says that a total of more than 300,000 positions are currently unfilled in federal, state and local governments and with many workers due to retire around 1.4 million

The ver.di trade union has begun to consult members over the deal reached on 9 December with regional government employers after a third round of bargaining. The agreement is comparable to that covering federal and municipal workers and includes a tax-free lump sum of €3,000, which will be paid as a one-off amount of €1,800 in December 2023, followed by monthly payments of €120 between January and October 2024. On 1 November 2024, monthly salaries will be increased by €200 and then increased again by 5.5% on 1 February 2025 (with the guarantee of a minimum increase of €340). Ver.di believes

Public service union ver.di is mobilising to put pressure on the regional government employers in the lead up to the next round of collective bargaining on 7-8 December. Workers at university and psychiatric hospitals, educational and social institutions, universities, road and water management, theatres, courts and other services are involved in one-day warning strikes. The employers have yet to come up with a pay offer in response to the trade union demands for a 10.5% pay increase with minimum of €500. The negotiations cover 1.1 million public employees and ver.di will be pushing for the

Public services union ver.di reports that in the second round of negotiations for regional government employees on 3 November the employers failed to submit an offer and flatly rejected all essential union demands. Thousands of members of ver.di and other public sector unions joined warning strikes at the beginning of the second round of negotiations to show the strength of support for the unions’ key demands. Ver.di says that employers are turning a blind eye to massive staff shortages, the stress endured by many workers and inadequate levels of pay, particularly in comparison to federal and

The ver.di trade union is running two weeks of action as part of its campaign to secure equal rights for workers employed by church organisations. Between 25 September and 6 October, union members will be out promoting the campaign petition with the aim of securing 4000 signatures. Currently church-based employers like the Diakonie and Caritas, organisations that employ hundreds of thousands of health and care workers, have special treatment under the law in relation to co-determination, collective bargaining and the right to strike. Ver.di wants this changed so that all workers have the same

Despite a major strike across the public transport network involving 500,000 workers, in the lead up to the third round of bargaining, federal and local government employer organisations failed to come up with an improved pay offer for the 2.5 million employees covered by the agreement. Ver.di and the other unions involved in the negotiations had been seeking a 10.5% pay rise with a minimum increase of €500 which they argue is essential to protect the purchasing power of those on lower and medium rates of pay. The breakdown in negotiations will mean the process moves to mediation.

Health workers were involved in warning strikes across the country on 14 and 15 March as the ver.di trade union builds support for its negotiations covering 2.5 million workers in federal and local government. The union is seeking a pay rise of 10.5% with a minimum increase of €500 a month. There was also action by workers in early years education and other social services to coincide with International Women’s Day on 8 March.

The ver.di trade union is organising further warning strikes following what it regards as a wholly inadequate pay offer from employers in federal and local government. The union is seeking a 10.5% pay increase with a minimum of €500 a month for the 2.5 million workers covered by the agreement. The employers, however, have offered only 3% by the end of 2023 and 2% in mid-2024 in what would be a 27-month agreement. There would also be lump sum payments of €1000 and €1500. The next steps in the campaign of warning strikes involve trainees and local transport workers. The third round of bargaining

A one-day strike by ver.di members at airports around the country took place on 17 February partly in support of the negotiations in federal and municipal government and partly in support of separate negotiations in ground handling services and aviation security. On 13 February, ver.di members around the country submitted early years education plans to local archives and museums as a gesture to highlight that they are currently impossible to implement. The union estimates that childcare services currently lack of 170,000 trained staff. Ver.di has also negotiated an agreement on staffing at the

Services union ver.di is in negotiations with the VKA municipal employers’ association to improve working conditions in municipal emergency services. The union is calling for a maximum working week of 44 hours (down from 48) as a first step and other measures to protect the health of employees. Ver.di warns that more workers will leave the sector if this issue is not addressed and cites the Red Cross as an example where hours reductions are being achieved. At the end of November, ver.di agreed with employers to gradually reduce weekly working hours (including on-call time) from the current