Health unions threaten strike action

Health unions were due to meet the government on 23 August to continue negotiations over the current collective agreement and previously agreed pay increases. The unions are threatening strike action if there is not a positive outcome and confirmation that pay increases included in the current collective agreement will be honoured. Pay increases of 3% (in August) for health workers in general and 4% (in October) for staff with diagnostic responsibilities are part of the annex to the collective agreement in force until 31 October. However, the government said it wouldn't confirm the increases

On 19 April the Trade Union of Employees in Health and Social Protection organized a demonstration over pay. The union says that the average salary in the health sector is €360 putting 28th of all sectors in the economy. Four categories of employees within the health sector don't even earn the minimum salary of €180. The union is a calling for a sectoral agreement in both the health and social protection sectors and wants changes to the decree that sets the coefficients used in the calculation salaries. In particular the union wants the government to withdraw plans to change the coefficients

The ver.di services says it may resort to strike action in response to the threat of large-scale job cuts at the EON energy company. Up to 11,000 of the company’s 79,000 global workforce could go and ver.di wants to negotiate a job security agreement that would exclude compulsory redundancies after 2012. Sven Bergelin, ver.di official and chair of EPSU’s utilities standing committee said that workers were particularly angered by EON’s plans as the company was making good profits. [Read more at > rp-online (DE)->http://www.rp-online.de/wirtschaft/news/Verdi-droht-Eon-mit-Streiks_aid_1025838