The regional labour court in Hamburg has rejected the claim by the church-run Agaplesion hospital that strike action by its employees was illegal. This is the second time that a regional labour court has ruled in favour of ver.di members who have taken strike action over pay and conditions. Ver.di is now calling on church employers to recognize that they are in a normal employment relationship with their workers and so should negotiate collective agreements with the union.
Read more at > ver.di (DE)
Second court decision backs right to strike against church employers
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Strike action against church employers ends in court
Public services union ver.di has been trying to win pay increases and improved working conditions for its members who work for health and social care institutions run by the church. Ver.di members have taken strike action but the church employers have tried to argue that their workers don’t have the right to strike. The legal dispute is now with the courts in Bielefeld. Ver.di executive committee member Ellen Paschke said that organizations that cut pay and jobs cannot deny the fundamental right of workers to strike to defend their pay and conditions. [Read more at > ver.di (DE)->http://presse
Union organises strike against church employers
The ver.di services union is planning for a further stage of strike action against church employers in September. Around 250 ver.di members in several different church institutions in three different regions took strike action back in May. The union says that church bodies that provide health and social care are trying to use their special constitutional status to pay employees below the sector pay norm. In a specific cases five old people’s homes in Hannover have been sold to a religious foundation that has cut pay to run the homes at a higher profit. So far the religious authorities have
Union welcomes court ruling over right to strike in church sector
Ver.di is pleased that a regional labour court has ruled in favour of the right to strike for workers employed by church organisations. The churches are significant employers in the health and social services sector and a protestant church organisation had tried to get strike action outlawed by arguing that it had a special status and was not party to normal collective bargaining. Ver.di pointed out that if church managers act like any other employer in using agency workers, outsourcing services and putting pressure on wages then it was the right of their employees to use their right to strike