You can hardly see the white coats because of the orange – the doctors from the university hospitals came to Marienplatz on Monday to strike. Many of them actually wear the typical doctor’s coat as a symbol. Their interest group, the Marburger Bund, has distributed strike items: vests, whistles, flapping hands, posters – even the sunglasses are bright orange. And the doctors need them that day too – shortly after one o’clock the sun hits the square in front of the New Town Hall.
“Not with us!” shouts the speaker on stage. “Not with us!” the crowd at his feet repeats in chorus. Andreas Botzlar, chairman of the Marburger Bund Bayern, opens the medical profession’s rally. He is demanding more money for the strikers, at least 12.5 percent, and higher surcharges for weekend, holiday and night shifts. He also gets a big round of applause for this. But the strikers are actually concerned about much more.
“We are standing here because we want to work under better conditions,” says a young doctor from internal medicine at the Rechts der Isar Clinic. It can’t be the case that you have to work all the way through on-call duty. But that is reality. And he would like more time for actual patient care, which suffers from the burden of all the organizational work.
It is noticeable that many of the striking doctors are young. There is often a stroller next to them or they are holding a child in their arms. They stand in a sea of posters: “Only Jesus healed for free” or “At night we do it almost for free.” He sees the many well-trained, motivated colleagues here, says Botzlar. “I would like you to still be working here in 30 years!” he calls into the microphone. Whistles and applause. There should finally be movement in collective bargaining.
According to the Marburger Bund, the term of the collective agreement has expired since the end of September last year. Compared to municipal hospitals, doctors at university hospitals earn up to twelve percent less, it is said. There have already been four rounds of negotiations. But the employer side has not yet accommodated them sufficiently. The employer side in this case is the Collective Bargaining Association of German States (TdL), which represents the federal states as employers in collective bargaining. The university hospitals are financed by the states.
Not only the doctors from the Munich University Hospitals, i.e. the LMU Clinic and the Klinikum Rechts der Isar as well as the German Heart Center, gathered at Marienplatz. Colleagues from other Bavarian university hospitals also arrived. Würzburg, Erlangen, Regensburg, Augsburg, one after the other the cities are called from the stage, one after the other loud cheers can be heard from different corners of the crowd.
The organizers are talking about 2,000 to 2,500 participants. According to the Marburger Bund, they represent around 5,000 employees at the seven university hospitals. That means almost half would be on strike. It is difficult to say how many are actually missing from the respective clinics. The spokespersons for the individual companies were unable to provide any reliable figures by the time of going to press: Feedback from the individual departments usually only comes at the end of the day or the next day. However, the effects were clearly felt. The LMU Clinic said in the afternoon that the operating room was affected by the doctors’ strike. “A number of elective, i.e. planned, procedures could not be carried out.”
In principle, the houses had prepared themselves and concluded emergency service agreements with the Marburger Bund. “Emergencies and urgent treatments will continue to be provided in any case,” the LMU clinic announced on Thursday when the nationwide strike call came.