Germany Public Hospital Doctors Strike Over Better Salary and Working Conditions
On Tuesday, medical staff at municipal hospitals all around Germany went on strike in favor of calls for better compensation and working conditions.
With signs reading “Good work, good pay” and “overworked and underpaid,” over 2,000 doctors marched through the heart of Hamburg.
In seven of Germany’s 16 states with public hospitals, the strike targeted them, and in one with private hospitals.
Nonetheless, the strike had little impact on emergency care.
In addition to a 2.5% wage raise for 55,000 hospital doctors, the Marburger Bund, a medical trade union, is requesting compensation for inflation since the last pay increase in the fall of 2021.
It has scheduled additional strikes for March 30 in other states.
The VKA Employers Association meanwhile claimed that the requests for pay increases and inflation compensation were excessive.
“When combined, they produce a demand of about 12%, which is unaffordable for municipal hospitals,” said Wolfgang Heyl, the senior negotiator for the VKA.
