“A bad joke”
Lauterbach’s care bonus falls through with the association
2/23/2022, 5:43 p.m
Health Minister Lauterbach is planning a corona bonus of 550 euros for geriatric nurses, but there is no joy about it. Social Democrats are already promising a second helping, association officials are talking about a bad joke. The small sum creates more anger than no payment at all, they say.
The SPD is committed to improvements to the plans for the care bonus in the corona pandemic. The SPD health expert Heike Baehrens said in Berlin that it was good that the traffic light coalition had decided on another care bonus and that the key points for implementation were now available. “We will campaign for further improvements in this regard in the parliamentary process.”
The recognition of the achievements of employees in the health and care sector has been a common goal of the traffic light coalition from the beginning. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach’s plans for a care bonus were announced on Tuesday. According to this, half of one billion euros is to be spent on employees in hospitals and half in nursing facilities. For full-time employees in geriatric care, an amount of 550 euros is to be paid. The managing director of the German Parity Welfare Association, Ulrich Schneider, told the “Rheinische Post”: “The planned distribution of the care bonus is a bad joke for employees in long-term care.”
“For Outstanding Achievements”
Nearly three-quarters of geriatric care workers work part-time, Schneider said. “With the planned bonus, Karl Lauterbach and the other people responsible for traffic lights are causing more resentment among these people than if the federal government had done nothing at all,” the official continued. “It doesn’t need a bonus, but finally better working conditions and decent pay,” said Schneider. “Anyone who is serious about this has to spend five billion euros a year, not 500 million.”
According to Lauterbach’s key issues paper, the bonus should be paid for “outstanding performance”. This includes special stresses that employees were exposed to due to the treatment of Covid patients. Also included are more comprehensive hygiene measures and the increased risk of getting infected yourself, or the greater need for care for people infected with Covid.