How do hospital employees strike in times of severe staff shortages? Who else can come to protest when there is need inside? On this Tuesday morning, people stand in small groups in front of the subway exit to the Großhadern Clinic and say: It has to be anyway. Nothing happened for far too long, now politics must finally act. “We want our profession to be valued more highly. And that is also reflected in the pay,” says a man in a light blue rain jacket. “We stand here on behalf of all the others who cannot leave because of the emergency supplies,” says a woman next to him.
The Verdi union has called on health workers to go on a warning strike in the wage dispute. In Munich, employees of the LMU clinics in Großhadern and the city center, the TU clinic on the right of the Isar and the German Heart Center, which also belongs to TUM, went on strike on Tuesday and Wednesday. But there were also strikes in other Bavarian university hospitals such as Augsburg, Erlangen, Regensburg and Würzburg.
Verdi is demanding a permanent wage increase of 300 euros a month. The training allowances are to be increased by 100 euros. The employers in the collective bargaining association of German states (TdL) have so far rejected the claims. “The coffers of the federal states are heavily burdened because of lower tax revenues,” said the TdL chairman Reinhold Hilbers when asked by the SZ. Wage increases of up to 300 euros “just didn’t fit into the landscape”. He referred to the next round of negotiations in two weeks. A “reasonable compromise” will have to be agreed. Heinrich Birner, Verdi managing director in Munich, described it as “outrageous behavior” on the part of the employer in view of the great burden on the health system, not to have submitted an offer for an income increase.
The disappointment among the strikers can be clearly felt. “The clapping was nice for a day,” says one, “but after that everything was the same as before.” “Nobody from politics does anything,” says the colleague annoyed. Mainly physiotherapists and occupational therapists, masseurs and speech therapists came here – a nurse in a managerial position who would have had a day in the office today also made it to strike.
There are emergency service agreements for the clinics. This ensures that all life-saving measures are carried out despite the strike, said Verdi. In a statement, the LMU-Klinikum emphasizes that the urgently necessary patient care is guaranteed. Depending on the level of participation in the strike, however, there could be longer waiting times in the outpatient departments or in the emergency room.