Union calls for minimum training standards to be maintained

Ver.di has criticised the government for not maintaining the provision of training in elder care. The union points out that over 14,000 people, over half of whom were on state benefits, had benefited from training in elder care. Ver.di sees this as successful both in terms of helping the unemployed get new skills and find jobs but also in beginning to address what is a growing problem of staff shortages in the care sector. However, the government has decided not to continue the training scheme beyond the end of this year. [Read more at > ver.di (DE)->http://presse.verdi.de/pressemitteilungen

The public service union and the GPA private employees union, which organises workers in the private care sector, are calling for proper funding for the care sector. They say that all care workers, whether Austrian or migrant workers, need the protection of minimum standards and have the right to proper pay and conditions. The unions argue that care services often rely on illegal workers and to remove them from the system would lead to its collapse. [Read more at > GÖD (DE)->http://www.goed.at/12082.html] [And at > GPA (DE)->http://www.gpa.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=GPA/Page/Index&n=GPA

The GPA-djp private services union has underlined the need for action in the care sector to address the quality and quantity of services and the pay and conditions of care workers, three quarters of whom are women. With demand increasing, particularly as a result of the ageing population, the union wants to see the federal government take responsibility to introduce national standards of care to end the variation between the regions and to increase funding to the sector to help address low pay and the widespread use of part-time work.