COVID-19
Germany: latest agreement to boost pay in health and care
After intensive negotiations over the weekend, public services union ver.di has negotiated a new collective agreement covering 2.3 million workers in municipal and federal government with specific measures benefiting employees in health and social care.
Unions secure pay rises for 2.3 million public service workers
Ver.di and other public service unions have negotiated what is seen as respectable deal in a challenging bargaining environment that delivers a 1.4% pay rise for all workers on 1 April 2021 with a further 1.8% increase in April 2022. The agreement runs until 21 December 2022. The pay increase in 2021 is backed with a 50 Euro a month minimum which means that the lowest paid workers will see pay increase by 2.59%. Meanwhile, nursing staff will get 70 Euros a month additional payment from March 2021, rising to 120 Euros in 2022. Other payments for health and care workers include an increase in
Healthcare unions strike and demonstrate over funding and staff shortages
Nine unions representing health workers in the Basque region – ELA, SATSE, LAB, SME, UGT, CCOO, ESK, SAE and UTESE – are calling for urgent action to increase funding for healthcare and deal with staff shortages. Strikes took place on 29 October in the Araba province, on 5 November in Gipuzkoa and then on 12 November further action is due in Bizkaia. The unions say that the public health system is facing a serious situation across primary care, hospitals and mental health. Workers are physically and emotionally exhausted because of high workloads with further problems arising from high rates
Unions join in international call to support culture workers
Three trade unions (CGT, FP-CGIL and PCS) representing workers in cultural services in France, Italy and the UK have come together to highlight the urgent need for action to support the sector and tackle poor pay and employment conditions. They argue that the sector has been particularly hard hit by measures to tackle the pandemic and these have been intensified because of the extent of outsourcing and precarious employment. The unions are calling for a strengthening of public culture services, decent and secure employment conditions and action to stop privatisation and outsourcing. CGT (EN
Health union attacks government over pressure to keep working
The vida trade union which represents workers in private health and social care has criticised the government for saying that workers infected with COVID-19 should continue to work. The union sees this as a panic reaction to the increased pressure on services and insists that workers and patients need protecting and those infected or who need to quarantine should not go to work. Vida also wants to see testing extended to all workers including emergency service staff and other mobile workers and underlines that tests, including travel to and from test facilities, should be carried out during
Union prepares for upcoming bargaining in health and municipalities
The FNV trade union has set out its main demands in upcoming negotiations covering University Medical Centres. It is aiming for a wage increase of 5% as of 1 January 2021, with a minimum of €200 gross per month and an increase in the allowance covering irregular work. The union also wants other measures to make work in the sector more attractive with improved training and action to address the fact that many older workers are leaving because of sickness and ability to stay at work. Negotiations in municipal services will also get underway soon and a key demand will be for a EUR 500 bonus for
Unions want more protection for health and care staff
Public service unions Fórsa and SIPTU have called for urgent action to better protect healthcare and childcare staff against the COVID-19 virus. Fórsa says that figures show over 9000 health workers were infected at the beginning of last month and that many are being pushed back to work too quickly by local management in response to increased demand and shortages of staff. Meanwhile, SIPTU has been making a case for a change in a approach in the childcare sector where there is no requirement to wear masks or implement social distancing. The union wants a review of procedures, for staff to be
Amnesty International and EPSU organize a joint online conference on human rights violations of health and social care workers
On 28 October, Amnesty International and EPSU joined forces for an online event to discuss the human rights violations of health and social care workers during COVID-19.
Call for government to protect health workers
The vpod/ssp public services union, as part of the Health Alliance campaign, has called on the Federal Council to refrain from any watering down of labour legislation and to provide comprehensive protection for health personnel, including special measures for pregnant women and other vulnerable people. The Alliance is also calling for massive financial investment in working conditions, a corona premium for all health workers and action to address structural deficiencies in the healthcare system and tackle precarious work in the sector. vpod/ssp (DE) vpod/ssp (FR)
Union calls for urgent action on health and care staffing
Following a government report on nursing and care, services union ver.di has called for urgent action for a long-term solution to understaffing across health and care institutions, particularly in light of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. In conjunction with hospital and care associations the union has already put forward a process for assessing staffing needs in hospitals and says that an academic proposal for evaluating staffing levels in eldercare has identified the need for an extra 100000 staff. Ver.di argues that measures are needed on training and pay and working conditions. It