Around 50 municipal hospitals are affected by the industrial action. A survey revealed “alarming conditions” on the wards.
Doctors from around 50 municipal hospitals in Hesse are called upon to stop working this Thursday, March 31st. The focal points of the warning strike are the largest houses; including the Darmstadt Clinic, the Helios Horst Schmidt Clinics in Wiesbaden, the Sana Clinic in Offenbach, the Frankfurt-Höchst Clinic, the Kassel Clinic, the Fulda Clinic, the Hanau Clinic, the Hochtaunus Clinics, the Bad Hersfeld Clinic, the Rüsselsheim Hospital, as well as many other institutions, said the doctors’ union Marburger Bund. Patients should not be harmed: “The Marburger Bund will offer the hospitals affected by the strike emergency service agreements to ensure emergency care,” the state association informed on Wednesday.
“The municipal employers leave us no other choice,” said state chairman Christian Schwark. After four unsuccessful rounds with the Association of Municipal Employers’ Associations (VKA), the negotiations are deadlocked. That is why the Marburger Bund called on the around 5,000 affected doctors in Hesse to take part in the nationwide one-day campaign. The central rally on the Römerberg in Frankfurt begins at 1 p.m.
The requirements
The Marburg League is the association of all employed and civil servant doctors in Germany. .
of Germany only doctors’ union demands clear limits for on-call services, a limitation of on-call duty, a secured right to free weekends and more planning security for the services. Salaries are expected to rise by 5.5 percent. legal
The employer’s chief negotiator called the call for a strike “completely exaggerated”. For more than five months, the VKA has been trying to bring about a collective agreement, said Wolfgang Heyl. You made an offer in mid-December and have now submitted further proposals on the topics of on-call and on-call services as well as free weekends. “However, it is now up to the Marburger Bund to finally take a step towards us and move away from the completely unrealistic demands.” They would overwhelm the municipal clinics immensely. “In small houses and in individual departments, there is a risk that services of general interest can no longer be guaranteed.” This is also not in the interests of the doctors. “The current labor dispute is also at the expense of the entire population.”
The situation is already problematic in some places. And it could get worse. This is suggested by the result of a member survey initiated by the Marburger Bund Hessen at the end of last year. A third of those questioned no longer wanted to work in the hospital. Just over half stated that jobs would be cut at their clinic in 2021, or that this was planned. Around 80 percent said there were not enough doctors to ensure good patient care. State chairman Schwank said: “Alarming conditions. And there is no change in sight.”
Because even the clinics have their backs against the wall. Recently, the association of publicly funded houses in Hesse pointed out their economic problems. The financing gaps are “dramatically increasing”, warned Managing Director Reinhard Schaffert. The hospitals in Hesse would have to finance more than 35 percent of the investment costs from their own funds, pre-finance the nursing staff costs despite promises to the contrary by politicians and shoulder the rising energy costs, while the Corona aid expired on March 19. “Politicians cannot, on the one hand, set and limit the income of the hospitals and, on the other hand, let the market run free when it comes to costs.”
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