Inflation compensation and wage increase
Thousands of doctors lay down work
3/21/2023 5:03 p.m
In the collective bargaining with the municipalities, thousands of clinicians in several federal states are on strike. They complain about what they see as poor staffing and pay.
Thousands of doctors in municipal clinics have demonstrated in several federal states for better pay and working conditions. The Marburger Bund trade union had called for the warning strikes in Brandenburg, Bremen, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein. According to the trade union, around 4,000 doctors from the Asklepios Klinik St. Georg went to Gänsemarkt in Hamburg with whistles and posters with inscriptions such as “Good work – good money” and “Overwhelmed – underpaid”, where there was a central final rally.
The Federal President of the Marburg Association, Susanne Johna, called on the municipal employers to finally submit an offer that appreciates the work. “Anyone who thinks they can burden us even more, we say: Not with us!” said Johna. Doctors are already missing in many clinics: “Thousands of doctor’s positions are vacant nationwide. If you want enough doctors in the clinics to do their work day and night in the future, then finally make us a sensible offer!” she demanded . There were also walkouts in individual private clinics, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was also affected.
The Marburger Bund had offered all clinics an emergency service agreement to ensure emergency medical care for patients. Plannable operations should be postponed. The Marburger Bund is demanding inflation compensation for the 55,000 doctors in the clinics for the period since the most recent pay increase in autumn 2021, as well as an additional salary increase of 2.5 percent.
The association of municipal employers’ associations had criticized the warning strikes – also because they are currently conducting parallel collective bargaining with the Marburg Association as well as with Verdi and the civil servants’ association dbb. “This brings health care to its limits,” said negotiator Wolfgang Heyl. For March 30, the union has announced further all-day warning strikes in other federal states.