Anger builds up over longer working hours

Services union ver.di is warning local authority employers that they will face strike action if they push ahead with plans to increase the working week. The union says it will defend jobs and working time in local authorities and maintain pressure on the regional government employers to sign up to the deal agreed with federal and local government at the beginning of last year. Local authorities in Baden-Württemburg, Lower Saxony and Hamburg have all announced their intention of increasing hours. The union's response is that strike action will begin in Baden-Württemburg from 6th February. s

Public sector workers are continuing their strike action against attempts by local and regional employers to impose longer working hours. Around 3,000 university clinic employees are on strike around the North-Rhine Westfalia region, including in Cologne, Münster, Essen and Düsseldorf. [Read more at > ver.di->http://gesundheit-soziales.nrw.verdi.de/uni-kliniken_im_streik] In the Lower Saxony region an estimated 4,000 workers have joined the strike. [Read more at > ver.di->http://nds-bremen.verdi.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/showNews?id=4cd136aa-9c9e-11da-6295-000e0c66dc60] In Baden-Württemburg

A new report from the trade union-linked Hans Böcker Foundation shows how working time has changed in Germany in recent years and older workers tend to be more affected. Overall German workers now work on average 40.3 hours a week, 40 minutes longer than they did five years ago, with a third working at least 42 hours a week. The report also highlights the fact that the growth in shift, evening and weekend working has been mainly among older workers with the 40+ age categories seeing increases in such unsocial working time. [Read more at > Hans Böckler (DE)->http://www.boeckler.de/32014_91489