Higher minimum wage
Caregivers should receive significantly more money
Doctors and nurses look after patients in one of the treatment rooms of the intensive care unit at Rostock University Medicine. Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the work of nursing staff has once again come into focus. Many want more money. For some of them, this wish should now come true.
The minimum wages for nursing staff in Germany are to increase significantly in several steps from September 1st.
The responsible nursing commission unanimously agreed on this, as the Federal Ministry of Labor and the Federal Ministry of Health jointly explained. According to this, the minimum wages for unskilled workers are to rise gradually by the end of 2023 from the current 12 to 14.15 euros, for qualified unskilled workers from 12.50 to 15.25 euros and for nursing staff from 15 euros to 18.25 euros. Increases are planned for September 1, 2022, May 1, 2023 and December 1, 2023 respectively.
As early as April 1, an increase in the minimum wage that the Commission had already decided will come into force: According to this, assistants will then already receive 55 cents more per hour (12.55 euros), qualified assistants 70 cents more (13.20 euros), and a minimum wage increase of 40 cents to 15.40 per hour is planned for nursing staff.
According to the ministries, around 1.2 million employees work in facilities that fall under the minimum wage for care.
Also more vacation days
In addition to higher minimum wages, the Commission also recommends more vacation days in its current decision. According to this, employees with a five-day week should receive an additional seven days in addition to the statutory entitlement for the year 2022, and nine days each for the years 2023 and 2024. As a result, the minimum holiday entitlement in geriatric care would increase to 29 days from 2023 for employees with a five-day week.
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) welcomed this decision. As he recently announced, his house intends to implement the recommendations by ordinance on May 1st. The new minimum wages for nursing care and the entitlement to additional leave would thus be generally binding.
“The significant wage increases are good news for the geriatric nurses in Germany, who tackle every day and take care of the elderly and people in need of care in our society,” said Heil on Tuesday. They are “important steps to noticeably improve working conditions”. Heil promised: «We will continue on this path.»«
«The first important step towards fair remuneration»
“For many nurses, a higher minimum wage pays off in better pay,” said Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD). However, many employers would already pay their employees “significantly more” for good reasons. The increase in the minimum wage is therefore “only a first important step on the way to fair remuneration for nursing staff,” said Lauterbach. “The profession will only remain attractive if tariffs and more are the norm in care. We will take care of that.”
The care commission includes representatives from care facilities, employers and employees. In April they want to get together again.
Different tones on the decision could be heard from the ranks of its members on Tuesday. The employers’ association bpa, which represents private providers, welcomed the wage increases. “Hopefully this will stop the talk of allegedly badly paid nursing staff,” said bpa President and Commissioner Rainer Brüderle.
Other employers’ associations such as the employers’ association for care and the municipal employers’ associations (VKA) and the German Red Cross pointed out the higher costs that the new minimum wages would bring to those in need of care and their relatives. “The increase in the minimum wage for care also affects those in need of care and their families, as this leads to higher costs overall. It is clear that such extreme increases are not possible in the long term,” warned VKA general manager Niklas Benrath.
The minimum wages now recommended by the Commission will initially apply until January 31, 2024.
The Verdi union welcomed the higher wages, but criticized the fact that there are still no comprehensive collective agreements in care. A minimum wage alone cannot solve the “personnel problems in geriatric care,” explained board member Sylvia Bühler.
A collective agreement that was binding for the entire industry failed last year due to resistance from the Caritas association. The association’s labor law commission, which was supposed to have a say in the decision on whether it should be generally binding, had denied the initiative the necessary majority.