Frankfurt: A warning strike like a rock concert

• fromOliver Teutsch

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Several hundred employees in clinics and homes want more money and get really loud in front of the community hospital. Strikers also from Offenbach and the Wetterau.

In front of the Bürgerhospital it is a bit like a rock concert. Shrill screams of young women can be heard, several confetti cannons are detonated. But there is no rock guy on the microphone, but Julienne Kraicker, chairwoman of the trainees at the Höchst Clinic. “Just a few months ago we were the heroes of the nation, now we are not worth a penny,” complains Kraicker, who can rely on the loud support of numerous other trainees.

The service union Verdi called for a first warning strike on Thursday because the association of municipal employers’ associations has not yet submitted an offer for federal and local government employees. According to Georg Schulze, the responsible division manager at Verdi, the fact that the strike was called in the health sector is due to the fact that there is a lot going on there. Because the employees in hospitals are the only professional group in the public service still waiting for their breaks to be recognized as working time. More relief times are urgently needed in this sector, said Schulze.

Verdi had called for a strike in clinics and care facilities in Wetterau, Offenbach and Frankfurt, including employees at the Höchst Clinic. The strikers had chosen the Bürgerhospital as the target of the rally. Because there is Wolfgang Heyl, who not only runs the Bürgerhospital, but is also the employer’s negotiator. The choice of location for the rally was not particularly well received by drivers, and traffic jammed in the morning on the Alleenring around the Bürgerhospital. Almost 300 strikers spread in front of the hospital, including many young colleagues. Because for trainees in the health sector, Verdi is demanding a notable increase in remuneration by a fixed amount. At present, trainees receive a remuneration of 1140 euros in their first year of training. Too little to make the branch, which urgently needs young talent, more attractive, says Verdi. For the nationwide 2.3 million public sector employees in total, the union is demanding 4.8 percent more wages, but at least 150 euros.

The warning strike was not well received by employers and was “disproportionate,” said Heyl. Finally, the employers have announced that they will submit a first offer for the third round of negotiations from October 22nd. Health expert Schulze cannot understand the criticism, after all, the employers have so far not submitted anything. Verdi also fears that employers are playing a bit on time. “Should the corona numbers rise again, we might not be able to strike,” fears Schulze.

The union was very satisfied with the participation on Thursday. At the Höchst Clinic, 100 employees responded to the call, in Offenbach at the Sana Clinic and the senior center there, as many as 200. Anette Hergl, responsible for geriatric care facilities at Verdi, was particularly proud that there were employees in this chronically undersupplied sector who worked walked the streets, for example from the Henry and Emma Budge Foundation or from the AWO institutions.

The employees are combative and announced further warning strikes, next Wednesday in Hanau, for example. “We experience far too little appreciation,” cries the trainee Kraicker and is once again supported by shrill screams and rattles.

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