Status: 05/02/2022 07:12 a.m
The union verd.di wants to push through demands for better working conditions and better pay with warning strikes. Daycare centers and after-school care centers are affected, for example. The social workers start it off.
At the start of the nationwide warning strikes in the collective bargaining conflict in the social and educational professions, social work employees are called on today to temporarily stop work. With the wave of warning strikes, the ver.di trade union wants to increase the pressure on municipal employers before the third round of negotiations on May 16 and 17 in Potsdam. Collective bargaining for around 330,000 employees in social and educational services was adjourned on March 22nd without result.
Also warning strikes in daycare centers and help for the disabled
The social work employees should then be followed on Wednesday by those in day care centers and the school all day and on Thursday by the employees of the disabled aid. In the past few weeks, there have already been numerous regional work stoppages. “The disappointment with the attitude of the employers, who have so far refused a concrete offer, is massive,” said ver.di deputy chairwoman Christine Behle.
By 2025, there would be a shortage of around 300,000 skilled workers in the daycare centers alone, said Behle, referring to calculations by the German Youth Institute. The situation is no better in social work and in helping the disabled. During the corona pandemic, the shortage of skilled workers became even more acute: “The pressure to work in the social professions is increasing.”
Negotiations suspended for two years
Ver.di is conducting the negotiations together with the civil servants’ association dbb. On the other side of the negotiating table are representatives of the Confederation of Municipal Employers’ Associations. In addition to better pay, the trade unions are also demanding more attractive working conditions for the employees – for example more time for the preparation and follow-up of educational work. The collective bargaining partners resumed negotiations in February after a pandemic break of almost two years.