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Strikers from nursing and service in NRW: a »turning point«
Photo: Roland Weihrauch / dpa
The longest hospital strike to date in North Rhine-Westphalia has ended.
During the night, the Ver.di collective bargaining committee accepted a key issues paper negotiated with the employers, which is to be implemented step by step from January 1, 2023.
The strike had lasted more than eleven weeks.
The trade union Ver.di wanted to use the industrial action to achieve improvements, particularly in chronically understaffed care, but also in other areas of the clinic.
Well over 10,000 operations have had to be postponed since the beginning of May due to a shortage of staff at the six clinics.
A large number of corona sufferers exacerbated the situation.
"It's done: The first collective agreement for relief at hospitals in Germany has been enforced," said Katharina Wesenick, Ver.di's state department head for health, social affairs, education and science.
One is convinced that the agreement marks a turning point in clinics in Germany, said the medical director of the University Hospital in Münster, Alex Friedrich.
Central points of the agreement are a better staff ratio, especially in patient-related professional groups, a shift-specific load measurement through days off or financial compensation and relief days when the new staff ratio is not reached.
University hospitals in NRW did not want to negotiate for a long time
In some parts of Germany there has long been a so-called collective agreement on relief (TV-E), which regulates the exact staffing levels for individual hospital areas.
In NRW, the labor dispute began with a 100-day ultimatum to employers earlier this year.
The university hospital bosses let this deadline pass.
According to their own statements, the situation had become unbearable for the employees in nursing and other areas of the clinic because the care and support of the patients was suffering more and more due to the shortage of staff.
Higher education law had to be changed
The NRW university clinics had long refused to negotiate.
In addition, there were legal hurdles for direct negotiations between the parties to the dispute: Because the collective bargaining community of German states (TdL) rejected negotiations, the NRW state parliament had to change the higher education law.
At the end of June, this was achieved with the votes of the new black-green coalition and the SPD and AfD factions.
After that, the university hospitals from the employers' association of the countries (AdL), which are members of the TdL, were able to withdraw and conduct independent collective bargaining.
In addition, NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) publicly promised the strikers that the state would be responsible for refinancing the costs at the clinics not covered by health insurance.
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At the end of the strike, Science Minister Ina Brandes (CDU) said that the agreement would bring "a noticeable relief for all patient-related professions at the six university clinics".
Labor and Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) said that the past few weeks had demanded a lot from those involved - the employees, the patients and the clinic management.
»I am therefore very happy that the social partners have found a solution to the wage dispute.
There is now a good result on the table that will lead to better working conditions and lasting relief.«
jlk/dpa