Public service
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From Monday warning strikes in clinics, baths and BSR
Putting pressure on federal, state and local employers – that is the goal of the coming warning strike in the public sector. On Monday and Tuesday, thousands of employees will go on strike at the BSR, the bathing establishments or the clinics.
Warning strikes in the public sector and in municipal companies can lead to significant restrictions in Berlin on Monday and Tuesday.
The Verdi union called for the strikes. Overall, the union expects several thousand strikers on each of the two days.
Many BSR facilities do not open – no garbage disposal
At the Charité, at Vivantes and at the Jewish Hospital, employees stop working. Verdi expects around 1,000 hospital workers to go on strike there.
Warning strikes also at federal offices
On Monday, the employees of the Berlin bathing establishments want to go on strike and on Tuesday employees of the German pension insurance, the Federal Employment Agency, the Annedore-Leber vocational training center and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation will stop working. On Tuesday there should be a joint strike rally in Berlin.
Warning strikes are also planned for Monday in the federal agencies, the Bundeswehr and the water and shipping administration. According to Verdi, there will be a strike at the Bundeswehr hospital for the first time ever on Tuesday.
Charité postpones planned interventions – restrictions on swimming pools
The Charité has postponed planned interventions because of the warning strike. The affected patients were contacted and new appointments were offered, a spokesman said. Emergency care, time-sensitive surgeries, transplants and operations on children would continue, it said. The hospital group Vivantes announced in advance: “We cannot currently estimate how many employees will follow the call for a warning strike and cannot yet say whether patient care will have to be restricted due to the warning strike.”
Anyone who wants to go swimming on Monday should also be prepared for restrictions. “Individual baths can open late or not at all,” said the Berlin baths. “Since this is a warning strike, unfortunately we can’t give any more precise information about which bathrooms will be affected.”
According to the BSR, it is to be expected that the garbage and organic waste bins will not be emptied on both days. Even bulky waste is not picked up, recycling centers remain closed. Significant restrictions are to be expected in street cleaning.
Employers’ offer rejected by unions
The background to the warning strike is collective bargaining for public sector employees at the federal and local levels. Verdi and the civil servants’ association dbb are demanding 10.5 percent and at least 500 euros more wages for the 2.5 million employees nationwide. The employers submitted an offer in the second round of negotiations at the end of February. Among other things, it includes a pay increase of five percent in two steps and one-off payments totaling 2,500 euros. The unions immediately rejected this. Verdi said the offer was “not capable of agreement”.
The employers’ association KAV Berlin has criticized the warning strike and called on the unions to return to the negotiating table. “Against the background of the offer made by the employers in the second round of negotiations, the warning strikes announced for two days in Berlin met with a lack of understanding,” the KAV said on Friday.
Verdi hopes the warning strike will put pressure on employers. “We expect that the signals from Berlin will also be heard and that the offer will be significantly improved by March 27 – the next negotiation date,” said Christoph Schmitz, a member of Verdi’s national board. The continuation of collective bargaining is planned for March 27-29 in Potsdam.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, March 6th, 2023, 6 a.m