Health and social care: union defends works council but faces fight over dismissals

Germany

Services union ver.di has successfully fought off attempts by the Nord Residenz care company to shut down the works council. On 27 April, the regional labour court in Bremen in North West Germany ruled against the company’s attempts to dismiss the works council chair and her deputy, expel them from the works council and dissolve the works council itself. Nord Residenz is owned by the French multinational Orpea. Ver.di welcomed the many messages of solidarity support from trade unions across Europe and interventions by the state government and mayor of Bremen. Meanwhile, the union faces a major fight in the health sector where the Sana hospital group is planning to make over 1000 employees redundant by the end of the year. The employees are non-cleaning maintenance support staff that are employed by a service company owned by Sana and provide services to Sana sites across the country. Ver.di has strongly criticised the company for attacking a group of health workers who have played a key role in keeping services running during the pandemic.

ver.di (DE) Nord
ver,di (DE) Sana

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