HEALTH workers in in the Ver.di trade union in Germany have been out on a 48-hour strike which started on Tuesday which and continued yesterday.
Hospitals, psychiatric clinics, care facilities and emergency services have been affected nationwide.
In Bavaria alone, more than 30 municipal hospitals and district clinics, as well as several institutions providing care for the elderly, planned to take part in the two-day walkout. The Nuremberg Hospital has had to cancel operations – including those for tumour patients. Only ‘absolutely not postponable operations’ would take place, the hospital said.
In Berlin, warning strikes were planned at the Charité University Hospital and other clinics. Employees at the main hospital in Kassel and at the Klinikum Region Hannover also held demonstrations both on Tuesday and yesterday.
In Hamburg employees of the Asklepios clinics Altona, Barmbek, Harburg, Nord, St. Georg, Wandsbek and the Westklinikum Hamburg, as well as the University Hospital Hamburg Eppendorf (UKE), have been on strike. Ver.di expected several thousand employees nationwide to follow the strike call.
Emergency care, however, was ensured in the run-up to the strikes via an emergency service agreement, so those needing life-saving treatment would be looked after.
With the strikes, Ver.di is protesting against the offer submitted by the federal and local governments at the end of February, one that so far they have not improved despite more talks taking place.
The employers had most recently offered an increase in wages of 3 per cent this year and a further 2 per cent next year and tax-free, one-off payments totalling 2,500 euros, spread over two years.
However, Ver.di rejected the offer and continues to demand a 10.5 per cent increase, and at least another 500 euros as a one off payment for its members.
The third round of collective bargaining will take place from March 27th to 29th.
As well as health workers public transport workers were also on strike in Bielefeld and Hanover on Tuesday. The workers who are members of Ver.di organised the industrial action following unsuccessful wage negotiations. In Bielefeld, tram and light rail services have been suspended, while only a few buses are operating in the city.
In Hanover, buses, trains, and trams operated by the Ustra transport company did not operate, while Regiobus services also experiencing a near total shutdown.
On Monday, the union also went on strike again at airports, where ground and aviation security staff are also demanding higher wages.
Flights were cancelled in and out of the northern German cities of Bremen and Hamburg, and the capital, Berlin, as workers went on strike on Monday.
Airport staff embarked on the walkouts called by the Ver.di trade union in a dispute over pay for working nights, weekends, and bank holidays.
Berlin airport said in a notice that 200 flights were be cancelled on Monday, affecting around 27,000 passengers.
Hamburg airport said that all departing flights were cancelled and nearly half of arrivals were too, while Bremen airport said there would no flights from the airport.
Germany’s airport association, or the ADV, said around 45,000 passengers were directly affected as a result of the strikes.
The walkouts by airport staff came amid difficult pay talks for employees of Germany’s federal and municipal governments.
German unions are seeking a 10.5 per cent pay raise, while employers have offered an increase of a total of 5 per cent in two stages and a one-off 2,500 euros payment per employee.
Unions have rejected the offer, saying it was insufficient to meet expenses. The next round of talks is due to begin on March 27.
Additionally, there are negotiations nationwide over payments for air safety workers, and locally for ground service workers.
But Germany is not the only one to have been affected by strikes.
In France, more than a 2.5 million demonstrators marched in cities and towns last week against the government’s plan to raise the retirement age to 64.
Germany and France are not the only countries experiencing a strike wave, there have been big strikes in Spain where airport workers have been on strike through out February and will continue until April the 13th if no agreement can be made between airport employers and workers.
Greece’s air traffic controllers announced that they will join the 24-hour strike today.
According to an announcement by their union EEEKE it was delighted with the strike vote and said that it expects that it will have a big impact.
The 24-hour strike has been launched by public and private sector unions ADEDY and GSEE demanding justice for the victims of the train collision, no cover-up and safe transport.
Last Friday, Belgian public services workers took to the streets in Brussels to reject their sector’s lack of staff, reduced budgets, and increased workloads.
The Belgian Public Services Union (CGSP) stated: ‘None of our workers escaped budget cuts. That is why we sound the alarm bell: every country should have a strong public sector.’
The state-owned National Railway Company (SNCB) reported that the strike strongly disrupted the public transport networks. Only one metro line ran in Brussels, and 1 out of 3 trains worked while workers held this initiative. The strike affected the opening hours of some public services like town halls and recycling parks.
‘A strike is always an admission of failure. There are several union demands related to salary, budget, and pension that we have not been able to meet for a long time,’ Economy Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne acknowledged.
Patrick Lebrun, the CGSP Secretary for Wallonia region, criticised European Council President Charles Michel for promoting austerity treatments in Belgium.
Lebrun recalled that over 5,000 CGSP members have lost their jobs. He said: ‘The result of all this divestment policy?
‘About 4,000 trains out of service for lack of staff to work in them – public workers usually respond during major crises, but we would also like to have more consideration from our employers.’
Over the last weeks, the CGSP has negotiated better working conditions with ministers and party presidents.
Although no agreement has yet been found, this union stressed that authorities are listening carefully to its demands.
- The Georgian prime minister has accused Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky of meddling in his country’s domestic affairs by commenting on ongoing protests against a controversial bill claimed to be inspired by Russia.
Over the past days, thousands of people have taken to the streets of Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, to protest against a ‘foreign agents’ draft law, which targets the disclosure of money flows from abroad.
The proposed legislation stipulates that organisations, such as media outlets, could be classified as ‘foreign agents’ if they receive more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad. Critics claim the legislation is a way for the Georgian government to crack down on opposing voices.
Detractors have also pointed to a similar law passed in Russia, where all organisations or individuals receiving financial support from abroad or under some form of ‘foreign influence’ are declared ‘foreign agents.’
Reacting to the protests in Georgia, Zelensky thanked the demonstrators for waving Ukrainian flags and said it showed respect for Kiev, wishing Georgians ‘democratic success.’
According to reports, at least 66 people were arrested on Tuesday evening as the protests turned violent.
‘I want to wish everyone a timely end to this war, and peace,’ Garibashvili said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday likened the protests to a ‘coup attempt’ being orchestrated from abroad to create an ‘irritant’ on Russia’s borders.
Stressing that the ‘foreign agents’ legislation had been ‘used as an excuse to start, generally speaking, an attempt to change the government by force,’ Lavrov equated the rallies with ‘Kiev’s Maidan’ uprising that toppled a Russian-friendly administration in Ukraine in 2014.
Georgia fought its own brief war with Russia in 2008 over the status of the two Moscow-backed breakaway regions of Azkhazia and South Ossetia.
Georgia applied for EU membership together with Ukraine and Moldova days after Russia launched a military campaign in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Russia began its ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine with a declared aim of ‘demilitarising’ Donbass, which is made up of the Donetsk and Lugansk self-proclaimed republics. Back in 2014, the two republics, which are predominantly Russian-speaking, broke away from Ukraine, prompting Kiev to launch a bloody war against both regions. The years-long conflict has killed more than 14,000 people, mostly in the Donbass.
Since the onset of the conflict between the two countries, the United States and its European allies have unleashed an array of unprecedented sanctions against Russia and poured numerous batches of advanced weapons into Ukraine to help its military fend off the Russian troops, despite repeated warnings by the Kremlin that such measures will only prolong the war.
