Speaking at a health ministry hearing on proposals for reforming the care sector, ver.di executive board member Sylvia Bühler has called for immediate action to train the additional 10000 care workers a year that are needed to cope with the forecast growth in demand over the next 15 years. Ver.di sees this investment in training as essential now to ensure a sustainable care sector in the longer term. The union argues that at the moment where care providers do invest in training, costs are passed on to care recipients and this means that these care providers face being undercut by those who cut costs by making no training provision.
Read more at > ver.di (DE)
Union calls for investment in training for carers
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Call for carers to join union and push for collective agreement
The EAKL trade union confederation reports that the state wants to give additional pay to carers from July, which requires trade unions and employers to negotiate an agreement. Monthly pay in nursing homes varies from €725 to €1300 per month, depending on the region. EAKL says that trade unions want to negotiate a minimum wage for care workers in a sector collective agreement with a view to achieving the same level as that in the collective agreement for health workers where the minimum wage for care workers in health care institutions is set to reach €1160. With staff shortages reaching
Social carers work unpaid overtime
A new survey by the FOA public services union has found that as many as half of all employees in elder care, day care and psychiatry continue working unpaid after their normal working hours to finish their job. The survey also found that a reduction in staff hours has also lead to many care workers working alone and so face more pressure and stress. The union is urging its members to stick to their paid working hours and make management aware of what they can do within those hours and the additional resources needed to deliver proper services. [Read more at > FOA (DK)->http://www.foa.dk
Carers demonstrate over cuts to pay and conditions
Carers and their supporters demonstrated in Rochdale in the North West of England on 25 May in protest at plans by their employer, Future Directions, to cut their pay and conditions. The workers had voted for strike action on 25-27 May but this was blocked by court action. The company won a disabled care contract from Rochdale Council last October and then revealed plans to cut workers' pay and conditions. [Read more at > UNISON North West->http://www.unisonnw.org/future-directions-unison-members-determined-to-continue-fight-against-pay-cuts/] [And at > UNISON->http://www.unison.org.uk