Union organises strike against church employers

Public services union ver.di has been trying to win pay increases and improved working conditions for its members who work for health and social care institutions run by the church. Ver.di members have taken strike action but the church employers have tried to argue that their workers don’t have the right to strike. The legal dispute is now with the courts in Bielefeld. Ver.di executive committee member Ellen Paschke said that organizations that cut pay and jobs cannot deny the fundamental right of workers to strike to defend their pay and conditions. [Read more at > ver.di (DE)->http://presse

Services union ver.di has been surprised by the level of interest in a meeting on precarious employment in the church sector in Bavaria taking place on 24 October. Over 100 employee represenatives have signed up for the meeting indicating the extent of the problem among church bodies that provide many health and social services. The union has evidence of church employees facing temporary contracts of up to two years, part-time work despite the demand for full-time hours, widespread outsourcing and a range of other precarious employment conditions. [Read more at > ver.di (DE)->https://www.verdi

A hearing in the federal labour court in Erfurt on 20 November was due to consider the question of the right to strike in church organisations. This is a key issue for ver.di members working for the Elisabeth Foundation in Darmstadt. The Foundation is part of the Agaplesion health group which takes advantage of the so-called third way used by church organisations to avoid applying the employment laws that apply in the rest of the economy. Workers at the Elisabeth Foundation are calling for a proper collective agreement, along the lines of the main public sector agreement. Currently they face