Anger calls from the nurses in the “Krone” editorial office. They are pissed off because in the end only 800 euros are left over from the promised additional salary of 2000 euros.
Martin R. has been a nurse for ten years. When he looked at his account on December 1st, he couldn’t believe his eyes. In the end, not even a four-digit amount is left over from the 2,000-euro care bonus. “I’ve never called a newspaper to complain. But now I’m very disappointed,” says Martin R. The nurse is not the only one who expressed his displeasure in the “Krone” editorial team. The money is only arriving these days. In May, the government gave the nurses a bonus of promised a month’s salary. The money is only arriving these days. “There are 800 euros left. People are burning hot and pissed off,” says Gerald Mjka, VIDA chairman of the health department. Not everyone gets the bonus. The state recovers a lot of money by deducting the employer contribution of 400 euros and 18 percent social security and income tax. The fact that the 158,000 registered nurses receive the subsidy, but not midwives, staff of the medical-technical service and surgical assistants who perform activities like nurses, causes additional trouble.Lower Austria puts 500 euros on itLower Austria’s governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) quickly recognized the problem and added 500 euros to the care bonus for every carer in Lower Austria. Nurse Martin R. also lives in Lower Austria and is lucky. “But the money is only there because of the election in January.” Petja Mladenova and Ida Metzger, Kronen Zeitung
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