Campaign for right to strike for church employees

Over 1,500 church workers joined a demonstration in Magdeburg on 4 November organized by services union ver.di over the right to strike. Church organisations are major employers in the health and social services sector but are opposed to granting normal employment rights to their workers. The synod (parliament) of the evangelical church met that day and reaffirmed its rule banning employees from taking strike action. Ver.di regretted the decision and said that it would only servce to sharpen the conflict between the union and church employers. [Read more at > ver.di (DE)->http://www.verdi.de

The ver.di trade union is running two weeks of action as part of its campaign to secure equal rights for workers employed by church organisations. Between 25 September and 6 October, union members will be out promoting the campaign petition with the aim of securing 4000 signatures. Currently church-based employers like the Diakonie and Caritas, organisations that employ hundreds of thousands of health and care workers, have special treatment under the law in relation to co-determination, collective bargaining and the right to strike. Ver.di wants this changed so that all workers have the same

The trade union ver.di has launched a petition calling on the government to ensure equal rights for workers employed by church organisations. Currently special rules apply to the major protestant and catholic employers who employ around 1.8 million people and run many health and care services, including hospitals, nursing homes and services, facilities for the disabled and youth welfare, emergency services, daycare centres, etc. As, ver.di points out, these are financed almost exclusively from tax revenues and social security contributions. Employees of these bodies have fewer protections