Public services union ver.di has secured an agreement with local authorities in Hamburg on working hours. The new arrangements mean that most workers will stay below 40 hours a week but there are exceptions. Weekly hours depend on age, pay level and whether workers have children. So, for example all workers without children in the top four pay bands work 40 hour a week while those with children under the age of 12 work 39.5 hours. Those aged 50 and over in the bottom nine pay bands work 38 hours a week. General secretary Frank Bsirske welcomed the compromise deal but said that strikes in Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemburg would continue. In Baden-Württemburg local council workers have been on strike since 6 February and regional employees since 13 February. Both groups of workers have been on strike in Lower Saxony since the 13th.
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Progress on hours in Hamburg but strikes continue
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Further progress in working hours dispute
The dispute over working hours in local authorities in the Baden-Württemburg region is over with members of the ver.di services union backing an agreement to increase hours from 38.5 to 39 a week - the employers had demanded an increase to 40 hours a week. This is the third region where ver.di has secured a deal with local authority employers and resisted the introduction of a 40-hour week. However, the regional authority employers are maintaining their demand for longer working hours and as part of its campaign ver.di members in the North-Rhine Westfalia region are continuing their strike
Strike action over longer hours continues
Public sector workers are continuing their strike action against attempts by local and regional employers to impose longer working hours. Around 3,000 university clinic employees are on strike around the North-Rhine Westfalia region, including in Cologne, Münster, Essen and Düsseldorf. [Read more at > ver.di->http://gesundheit-soziales.nrw.verdi.de/uni-kliniken_im_streik] In the Lower Saxony region an estimated 4,000 workers have joined the strike. [Read more at > ver.di->http://nds-bremen.verdi.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id=4cd136aa-9c9e-11da-6295-000e0c66dc60] In Baden-Württemburg