Unions secure agreement for extra funds for jobs and pay in health sector

Trade unions representing midwives, including the FNV and NU'91, say they are disappointed by the response of the health minister to the urgent letter sent to the minister by the five unions at the end of December. With 1000 vacancies across the country the unions are extremely worried about the capacity of the service to guarantee care for pregnant mothers. The extra work taken on by midwives to cover for the vacant positions means many are dealing with heavy workloads and have had to cutback on holidays. The unions estimate that midwives’ pay is on average 10% below salaries in eldercare. A

Members of the FNV union working at a care home in Lopik in the Utrecht region have won an important victory, securing additional night staff and security measures. The workers at the care home run by the AxionContinu company organised a petition and camped outside the company's head office in order to put pressure on management. The workers argued that it was unacceptable for only one person to be on night duty with responsibility for over 60 vulnerable residents. The union will now try to tackle other issues in the company and hopes that the commitment on staffing levels will be taken up in

Municipal union Kommunal has welcomed a commitment from the government to spend an extra billion kronor on training and personal development for nurses and other staff in elder care. However, the union points out that this fails to address the more fundamental problem of staff shortages in the sector and these can be traced to low pay and difficult working conditions. Kommunal says that pay in the sector is well below that in the industrial sector for jobs requiring similar levels of training and qualification. Furthermore, the sector relies too much on part-time work (60% of all jobs) with