Waste, Strike, Germany

Pressure on the employer from a series of warning strikes at the Suez Süd waste company, enabled services union ver.di to secure a new pay agreement that runs until 31 December 2018. The first pay increase of 2% is backdated to 1 August this year and the next pay rise will be a further 2% from 1 August next year. There will also be two lump sum payments, one net payment of EUR 150 and one of EUR 125 gross. Apprentices will get an extra EUR 275 this year and EUR 150 next year.

Waste workers in northern Germany, members of the ver.di trade union have criticised their employer, Remondis, for switching to a different sector collective agreement. From the beginning of February the company said it would apply the freight and logistics agreement rather than the private waste agreement. The company argues that this makes no difference but the union points out that it delivers no improvements. Ver.di says that drivers are on a starting wage of EUR 11.95 an hour (less in some areas) and that many don't progress from this level. Meanwhile, the Rethmann Group which owns

Services union ver.di has negotiated significant pay increases (18% in 2018 and 7.5% in 2019) for employees of the Alba Logistik waste company in Berlin. The hourly rates are now EUR 12.57 for a driver and EUR 10.74 for a waste worker, Apprentices will also see higher monthly payments with EUR 700 in their first year, rising to EUR 780 in 2019. The result was achieved after three rounds of negotiations and a warning strike last year. Ver.di also attributes the success to a high level of union organisation in the company.

Over 200 staff at the Schildautal hospital in Seesen in Lower Saxony took strike action on 4 October in defiance of threats from management that they would be dismissed. The hospital is owned by Asklepios, the second biggest private hospital group in Germany. The health union ver.di wants to negotiate a collective agreement that would bring pay in line with the public sector. However, the company not only refuses to negotiate but has threatened strikers with the sack and promised bonuses to strike breakers. The recent ver.di congress sent a message of solidarity to workers at the hospital.

Workers at the Schildautal hospital in Seesen in Lower Saxony are continuing their strike action to secure a collective agreement despite management's aggressive anti-strike measures (see EPSU Collective Bargaining News 19, October). Public services union ver.di has condemned the hospital owners, Askeplios, for failing to agree a minimum service agreement, threatening workers with the sack and offering strike-breaking bonuses. Further action was taken on 1 November despite the employer's intimidation and on the basis of the union's own proposal for minimum service.

Public services union ver.di has negotiated a new pay deal with waste and recycling company Schönmackers. The company has 1500 employees and operates in the North Rhine Westphalia region. The agreement includes a pay increase of 3.6% from March 2020 and a further 1.3% from August 2021. There is an EUR 80 increase on trainee pay and the agreement runs to the end of January 2022. Meanwhile there is no progress in the GWE negotiations covering 7700 energy and water workers in the same region. Ver.di has rejected as completely inadequate a pay offer over 28 months that would equate to only 1.75%

Workers at the Ameos private, for-profit health company in the Saxony-Anhalt region are taking strike action despite the aggressive intimidation of the company's management. The union wants to negotiate a collective agreement which links workers' pay and conditions to the public sector agreement. Not only have management refused to negotiate but they sacked 14 trade union activists before Christmas and are threatening a further 800 job cuts if the union contnues its campaign. EPSU joined with ver.di in launching a labourstart campaign, targeting the company management.

(April 2017) Services union ver.di has negotiated a new framework agreement with the Veolia waste and environmental company which it sees as a landmark agreement in a sector which has seen a substantial erosion of collective bargaining coverage with intense wage competition. Around 4500 employees will be covered by the agreement which will include rules on working time, leave, additional payments and retirement and other social provisions.

Workers in the Liebenau Leben im Alter (LLA) non-profit eldercare provider, part of the church-based Caritas network, have taken strike action for the first time in a campaign to get a collective agreement. There are around 1.8 million workers in church-based health and social care providers where pay and conditions are set by the employer rather than by collective agreement. Last year just four ver.di members began to organise in LLA but the union now has 240 members in the organisation who want their employer to recognise the work they have been doing during the pandemic and bring their pay

The German subsidiary of the Veolia environmental services multinational has agreed to set up a €1 million pandemic fund after negotiations with the ver.di trade union. The fund will be available until the end of 2020 and will provide financial support of up to €10000 to workers who have been affected by COVID-19. The employees who could benefit include workers with children under 12 who can't find childcare, single parents, workers with other care responsibilities and who have been through family bereavements. The company implemented a short-time working agreement and topped up the funding

The ver.di services union and IG BCE industry union have negotiated a new 21-month agreement with the Uniper energy company. There is a 3% pay increase for all workers and trainees from 1 July this year, followed by a 4% increase on 1 April 2023. There is also a change to the pay structure so that trainees taken on as employees are not placed on a lower starting rate. In contrast, negotiations in the GASAG gas company are much more challenging with ver.di calling a warning strike for 27 June after six bargaining rounds that have failed to bring the two sides closer together. The union’s

After 11 weeks of strike action and more than 25 days of negotiations, health union ver.di and the six university hospitals in North Rhine Westphalia have agreed on the key points for a collective agreement that addresses excessive workloads and understaffing. The agreement will run from the beginning of 2023 and sets out the ratio of employees to patients required on each shift. If this ratio isn’t met or if other stressful situations occur, those affected receive stress points and then an additional day off for every seven points accumulated. In the first full year of implementation up to 11

The national minimum wage has increased from €9.60 an hour to €9.82 as of 1 January and there will be a further increase to €10.45 in July. Alongside this national rate there are several sector-specific minimum wage rates that provide for higher pay levels in sectors where collective bargaining coverage is relatively low. The waste sector minimum has been €10.45 since last October and this rate applies until September 2022. There are three rates in the care sector for care assistants, qualified staff and more specialist staff. These are currently €12.00, €12.50 and €15.00 respectively and will

On 15 June the Labour Court in Bonn rejected an application by the local University Hospital to ban strikes being organised by the ver.di trade union. The strike action is part of what has so far been an eight-week campaign in six university hospitals in the North Rhine Westphalia region to secure a new collective agreement that addresses overwork and understaffing. The union wants a deal that covers all professional groups in the hospitals and has rejected an offer by the employers that would only cover nurses involved in direct patient care. Ver.di wants to see shift-specific minimum numbers