Further progress on collective bargaining policy

The dispute over working hours in local authorities in the Baden-Württemburg region is over with members of the ver.di services union backing an agreement to increase hours from 38.5 to 39 a week - the employers had demanded an increase to 40 hours a week. This is the third region where ver.di has secured a deal with local authority employers and resisted the introduction of a 40-hour week. However, the regional authority employers are maintaining their demand for longer working hours and as part of its campaign ver.di members in the North-Rhine Westfalia region are continuing their strike

Negotiations between the health and care workers’ union Sanitas and the government continue to deliver on the union’s key demands on pay and conditions in addition to the successes reported in the last newsletter. All categories of employees in health care will get pay increases from 1 August, representing partial payment, in advance, of increases that will be provided for in the new wage law. From 1 August a range of occupations are also set to get additional payments for on-call duty that range from 100 to 1000 lei (€20-€200). The Ministry of Health will immediately begin the process of

Negotiations over the pay and conditions of 55000 hospitals doctors are set to resume on 21 May with the Marburger Bund doctors' union looking for a clear statement from the VKA municipal employers' organisation on two key points - the demand for two free weekends each month and a maximum number of hours on standby duty. The union has organised a number of warning strikes to support its negotiating team and will consider further action if the VKA doesn't make a better offer in the next negotiating round.