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Strike at Regensburg University Hospital: Nurses are "fed up"

2021-11-25T13:11:00.446Z


In what is now the second nationwide warning strike by health workers and nurses, several hundred people again took part at the Regensburg University Hospital. The employer side sees no reason to submit an offer so far. It is said that one has to save.


In what is now the second nationwide warning strike by health workers and nurses, several hundred people again took part at the Regensburg University Hospital.

The employer side sees no reason to submit an offer so far.

It is said that one has to save.

Regensburg - "We are all fed up." Theresa Reiter is upset.

Just like the around 500 other nurses who vented their anger on Wednesday in front of the main entrance of the Regensburg University Hospital *.

Despite icy temperatures, they have now turned up for the second warning strike.

Because the employers have still not submitted an offer in the current collective bargaining round.

Regensburg: Strike, but employers do not want to submit an offer

Despite the Corona * crisis, a rising fourth wave and the associated high burden on employees in the hospitals, the collective bargaining community of the federal states, in short: TDL, does not seem to see any need for action. The TDL board chairman and Lower Saxony finance minister Reinhold Hilbers (CDU) refers instead to the tight coffers. "If we want to close the gap and quickly return to balanced budgets without debt, then that will only be possible with structural savings and growth."

This attitude not only outrages the affected hospital employees.

In Regensburg, among others, members of the IG BAU union show solidarity and take part in the demonstration.

It is the second nationwide warning strike that the ver.di union has called for.

Many care workers are now taking 48 hours off work.

Nurses strike: "Because we can no longer"

One of them is Max. “Today is not a work day. Today is the day of the strike, ”calls the nurse through the microphone. The demand for 300 euros more wages for the care workers - ver.di wants an income increase of five percent for the rest, but at least 150 euros per month for a period of one year - are "actually nothing" given the inflation. But you don't even get that. "In the negotiation we are now told that it is a temporary burden, there is actually no overload at all." That is a "slap in the face". "Today is not a working day because we can no longer."

Hospital staff turn their heads every day - for years. Having to care for up to 30 patients during a day shift is not uncommon. "Imagine Mrs. L. rings the doorbell in room 5, she is tied to the bed. In room 24 there is Mr. H. ringing the bell. He just came up from the operating room. In room 7, Mr. K. rings at the same time, who has been throwing up all day. But I'm currently in room 12 with the doctor and have to treat a bleeding there. "

This is what everyday life looks like in hospitals, including at the university clinic, says Max. One strike “because no patient deserves to lie in his vomit, his excretions or in his blood and have to wait for someone to help”.


The wellbeing of the patient is emphasized again and again on Wednesday - it is one of the drivers for the strike.

Above all, however, it is about being able to do one's work at all.

Rising corona numbers and staff shortages at the Regensburg University Hospital

The press office of the Unklinikum confirms that there is currently a high level of exposure. In view of staff shortages, it is currently not in a position to operate all intensive care beds. In principle, one can “react flexibly to a certain extent to an increasing need for intensive care capacities”, but: “The increasing numbers of COVID patients requiring intensive care are currently exacerbating the situation.” Almost all intensive care beds are occupied.

At the beginning of the week, 22 corona patients were treated in the intensive care unit of the university hospital.

"COVID patients are usually treated in the intensive care unit for several weeks, while non-COVID patients stay with us on average only a few days until the vital parameters stabilize." Accordingly, there would only be a "hesitant outflow from the intensive care unit".

This affects the entire supply.

Strike in the care sector: "Corona has only exacerbated the problem"

But Corona is not the real problem and has only exacerbated the situation, according to the strikers in front of the hospital.

For years it has been pointed out to the steadily increasing shortage of personnel and skilled workers in hospitals.

A rethinking of politics has been called for for years.

But in vain.



Theresa Reiter, a specialist in radiology, compares the situation with a bark beetle infestation.

The shortage of staff and the increasing burden on the remaining staff would also "attack and decompose" the hospital.

Maren Meyers, long-time specialist nurse at the university hospital, speaks of a “nursing emergency that has been foreseeable for many years”.

She does not want to discredit her employer with the strikes, nor to weaken her profession in the current situation.

However, the work of her and her colleagues has not been adequately rewarded by politics for many years, as is generally the case in the social professions.

One has to point this out.

Nursing staff complained: further training is hardly noticeable in terms of salary

She herself loves her job, which demands a lot even without Corona, but she consciously got involved many years ago.

The thanks of the patients is "gold for the soul" and motivates again and again.

In her environment, however, she is often allowed to hear why she is complaining.

"That should have been clear to me when I took up a social profession."

Extensive training and further education, Meyer continues, would hardly be noticeable on the pay slip.

Five years of highly qualified training for “just 100 euros more gross per month”, for which masters at BMW and Audi would “probably not even get up”.

* Merkur.de / bayern is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA

It is hard to imagine: A man from Lower Bavaria has been waiting for days for his cancer surgery, which may save him, but the clinic no longer has any capacity - not just because of Corona.

By the way: Our brand new Regensburg newsletter informs you regularly about all the important stories from the world cultural heritage city.

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Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-11-25

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