Staffing levels, Low pay/minimum wages, Poland, Germany

Nine organisations representing healthworkers, including the OZZPiP nurses' and midwives' union, have come together in a campaign calling for pay increases across the sector. The unions have coordinated a petition that has gathered over 230000 signatures and on 17 July organised a demonstration outside parliament. The unions are arguing for a new pay system with minimum rates for different professions.

An analysis by the European Trade Union Institute shows that wage convergence between East and West in Europe was steady up until 2008. However, since then the trend has either stalled or gone into reverse. Taking national average pay as a percentage of the average across the pre-2004 EU15, Croatia and Hungary show the largest increase in the pay gap since 2008. There were also increases in Slovenia, Czech Republic, Poland and Romania.Most progress was made in Bulgaria but from a very low level (11.8%) to 17.7%, still less than a fifth of average pay in the West.

Member of the services union ver.di working in several hospitals across the country took strike action on 19 September as part of the union's campaign on safe staffing levels and reducing workloads. EPSU general secretary Jan Willem Goudriaan sent a message of support, underlining the importance of protecting the well-being of both health workers and patients by taking urgent action to reduce staff shortages in the sector estimated at over 160000, including over 70000 frontline care workers.

The OPZZ and Solidarnosc trade union confederations have expressed their support for protests by junior doctors over pay and health funding. A hunger strike by a group of junior doctors has been joined by representatives of other medical professions and their key demands are supported by the wider union movement. The unions want to see the proposed law on health sector salaries revised through a proper process of social dialogue to deliver fair and higher salaries for all occupations in the sector.

Members of the Solidarity trade union working in the courts and prosecutors' offices organised a protest on 13 November over pay. Rather than the image of high-paid judges and prosecutors, the union says that 80% of workers get less than 2000 ZLT (EUR 475) a month and their pay claim is for a modest 100 ZLT a month (EUR 25). The protestors handed in a petition to the prime minister also calling for an increase in jobs in the sector.

The ver.di services union is arguing that a sector pay agreement is needed to cover workers involved in childcare, youth and family work and care for the disabled. It says that the problem faced by the sector is that many welfare-based and private providers fail to pay decent wages with some pay rates as much as a third less than those that apply in the public sector agreements. Ver.di is highly critical of low-paying employers who don't recognise that urgent action is needed to address the shortage of skilled staff, with an estimate that kindergartens alone will face a shortfall of 329000

Members of the ver.di services union have secured pay increases following action in both the health and energy sectors. After more than a year in dispute, the union has managed to negotiate a new pay deal for workers at the CFM facilities management company. Around 1600 low paid workers will benefit from a basic pay rate of EUR 11 an hour which will mean increases worth 10%-16%. The union will be building on the solidarity maintained over the course of the dispute in preparation for next year's bargaining round which will begin no later than 1 July. In the energy sector 4500 employees at EON

Over 70000 workers joined the initial round of warning strikes in support of the negotiations covering federal and municipal workers. The focus was on the North-Rhine Westfalia region but further action is planned around the country, involving a broad range of workers from childcare and water to administration and transport. The services union ver.di is determined to secure a real wage increase for all workers, ensuring that any percentage rise is underpinned by a flat-rate amount to benefit lower paid workers.

Services union ver.di is celebrating the best negotiating result in many years for federal and municipal workers who will see pay rise by 7.5% in a new 30-month agreement. There will be increases of 3.19% on 1 March 2018, 3.09% on 1 April 2019 and 1.06% on 1 March 2020. The increases will be implemented through a fundamental revision of the pay structure, including particular changes to lower pay levels. The aim was to ensure faster pay developments in early stages of a career to make the sector more attractive and also to close the gap where there are big differences with the private sector

On 17 October the Labour Court in Nordhausen in central Germany ruled that two employees of the Celenus social care company had been unfairly dismissed for trade union activity and should be reinstated. Carmen Laue and Heike Schmidt, members of the ver.di service union, were summarily sacked in April for distributing leaflets as part of a long-running, and continuing campaign for better pay at Celenus which is part of the Orpea social care multinational. EPSU and its affiliates from France, Austria, Belgium, Italy and Spain that also organise in Orpea sent messages of support.

The ver.di services union has called on employers of all kinds across the eldercare sector to negotiate a sector agreement. The union argues that this is needed urgently to ensure better pay for eldercare workers and that they all are covered by a sector agreement whether they work for the private for profit, non-profit or public sectors. Ver.di has welcomed steps taken by non-profit welfare organisations to create an employers' organisation and argues that the next step is a sector agreement that will help improve the attractiveness of the sector and tackle staffing shortages. The union's

Following a government report on nursing and care, services union ver.di has called for urgent action for a long-term solution to understaffing across health and care institutions, particularly in light of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. In conjunction with hospital and care associations the union has already put forward a process for assessing staffing needs in hospitals and says that an academic proposal for evaluating staffing levels in eldercare has identified the need for an extra 100000 staff. Ver.di argues that measures are needed on training and pay and working conditions. It