Health workers to protest over pay and funding

Trade unions representing doctors, health managers, veterinary and other health staff have called a national demonstration on 17 October and a national strike on 9 November. The unions want to see additional funding for the health service in order to address the urgent need to recruit new staff, provide training, tackle precarious employment and renew the collective agreement.

The POEDIN health workers' union organised a national strike and demonstration on 16 May in protest at the austerity still being suffered by the public health service. The union argues that massive underfunding and staff shortages are making it impossible to deliver services and many people are forced to use the expensive private sector as waiting lists rise. There is a recruitment crisis in the sector with no new workers taken on over the last three years while 3000 have retired. Overall staffing is 6000 below its 2014 level while workers face poverty wages. A university trained nurse has a

Workers at the hospital in the Zug canton took part in a demonstration earlier this month demanding proper funding and decent pay to maintain a good standard of care. The unions sent a letter to the canton government as it refused to meet representatives of the works council. The unions are worried that pressure from the health insurance companies to cut funding to hospitals will threaten their collective agreement and could lead to cuts in pay as labour costs make up 70% of overall hospital costs. [Read more at > (DE)->http://www.vpod.ch/aktuell/nachrichten/ansicht/article/zug-gute-pflege-zu