Strike at Cottbus University Hospital: Verdi demands 12% more salary!

Strike at Cottbus University Hospital: Verdi demands 12% more salary!

Over 500 non-medical employees at the Medical University of Lausitz - Carl Thiem (MUL-CT) in Cottbus went on strike on Thursday morning in bright yellow high-visibility vests for better working conditions. This warning strike was called by the Verdi union, which is urgently demanding better pay. Drivers in the health and care professions are making people sit up and take notice.

The background to the strike is the previous collective bargaining, which has proven to be inconclusive. Verdi is demanding 12 percent more salary or at least 500 euros for the affected employees. Union spokesman Ralf Franke makes it clear that these demands are in line with the collective agreement in the public sector - a point that has long been taken into account in other cities such as Berlin and Dresden. The last offer from the university clinic is currently considered inadequate because it falls short of the demands. A comparative calculation has shown that with this offer, nursing staff would earn around 4,200 euros less in the next two years than under the collective agreement. However, despite an emergency service agreement, many planned operations had to be postponed, highlighting the impact of the strike.

Collective bargaining in the public sector

The strike in Cottbus is part of a larger movement in the public sector. Over 2.6 million employees are demanding more money and better working conditions. Further collective bargaining begins in Potsdam, lasting three days and representing the third round of negotiations in this series. The Verdi and dbb unions are calling for a wage increase of 8 percent or at least 350 euros more per month, as well as additional days off. Employers, on the other hand, consider the demands to be too high and expect additional annual costs of almost 15 billion euros. An official offer is not yet on the table, and an agreement at the weekend seems more than doubtful. The pressure is great as warning strikes are taking place today in several cities, including Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Saxony, affecting various areas of public service.

The ongoing collective bargaining negotiations that have been taking place in Cottbus since the end of May are an example of the challenges that arise from the difference between the demands of employees and the options of employers. The next round of negotiations in Cottbus is scheduled for July 10th. The question remains: Will the negotiating parties succeed in finding a workable compromise, or will the pressure from the strikers remain high? In order to pursue these topics, it is worth taking a look at the collective bargaining history of the public service, which is characterized by constant struggles for better working conditions.

In the past collective bargaining rounds there have been repeated calls for salary increases, most recently in 2021, when collective bargaining for the public sector secured an increase of 2.8% from December 1, 2022. If you now compare the results so far, it quickly becomes clear that the current demands of employees are not just based on the good old tradition of striking, but are a response to the constantly changing living standards and working conditions. There are currently collective bargaining rounds for the public service (TVöD) and other areas on the agenda that could cause a stir in the coming months.

So things remain exciting in Cottbus and other regions of Germany, while the demands of public sector employees are only gathering, but a solution is still a long time coming. The question on everyone's mind now is: How far are employers willing to go to keep their employees happy and put an end to the strikers?

Further information about the current collective bargaining negotiations and their progress can be found at RBB, ZDF and in the overview public-service.de.