Status: 03/01/2022 4:21 p.m
The Ver.di trade union is calling on employees in municipal daycare centers, social services and disabled people to walk out. With warning strikes on March 8, she wants to push through demands for better working conditions and better pay.
In the collective bargaining dispute for the social and educational services, there will be warning strikes in the coming week. The service trade union ver.di called on employees of municipal daycare centers, social services and disabled people to walk out on March 8th.
v.di accuses the municipal employers of not taking the current situation in the facilities seriously at the start of the collective bargaining last Friday. According to the union, the employers rejected proposals to relieve the approximately 330,000 employees during the talks. This led to great dissatisfaction among the employees.
Employers consider claims to be unfinanceable
The President of the Association of Municipal Employers’ Associations (VKA), Karin Welge, said after the first round of wage talks that the demands of the unions “would lead to serious imbalances in the wage structure of the municipal public service and to disproportionate and unaffordable increases in personnel costs”.
During the negotiations, the union called for improvements in working conditions, measures to counteract the shortage of skilled workers and a higher classification for many employees. “Today it is incomprehensible that social workers, for example, earn less than engineers with an equivalent degree. Nevertheless, engineers get up to 280 euros more per month,” said Ver.di Vice-Chairwoman Christine Behle. Another central demand of the trade union concerns the time for preparation and follow-up of the pedagogical work.