Tens of thousands took to the streets for better conditions and more money in daycare centers and in social work – now unions and employers are continuing their lengthy talks. Are new warning strikes looming?
In the collective bargaining dispute over daycare workers and social work, employers and unions have started what is likely to be the decisive round of negotiations.
The Verdi unions and the civil servants’ association dbb demanded that the Association of Municipal Employers’ Associations (VKA) give in after two unsuccessful rounds of negotiations in February and March. Verdi boss Frank Werneke said immediately before the negotiations in Potsdam continued that 45,000 strikers had been on the streets last week. Now you go into the talks with a correspondingly high level of self-confidence.
“After two years of the pandemic, the suffering is great for many colleagues in the daycare centers, in social work, in aid for the disabled,” said Werneke. The clear goal is to reach a result in this round of negotiations. “From our side, we have no interest in a week-long strike,” said Werneke. “But that requires that the municipal employers with whom we are negotiating move.”
VKA: Some requests “cannot be implemented” for cost reasons
The dbb chairman Ulrich Silberbach said: “Our demands have been on the table for ages, everyone knows about the dramatic shortage of staff, which will continue to worsen.”
The VKA President Karin Welge rejected blanket demands for the approximately 330,000 municipal employees in social and educational professions. Some of the wishes formulated so far cannot be implemented for cost reasons, Welge told the German Press Agency. This applies, for example, to the demand for a higher classification of employees or for additional preparatory and follow-up hours for educators. Especially with a view to the effects of the Ukraine war and higher energy prices, municipal employers should be able to offer “reliable structures”, explained Welge.
“We cannot afford a general upgrade in the sense that each pay group gets more,” said the VKA President, who sits at the table as a negotiator for the employer side. According to her, that would mean that up to 460 euros more would have to be paid per month in individual occupational groups. “That would mean that we might have fewer people afterwards.”
Verdi threatens to massively expand strikes
However, Welge expressed his willingness to talk with regard to the position of social workers. “We’ll take a very different look at that.” The employer side is also thinking intensively about redefining job characteristics for certain tasks in daycare centers, she said.
All in all, she hopes that an agreement can be reached. “I think everyone involved wants this round to end.”
Verdi has threatened to “expand the strikes massively” if the last round of negotiations fail. The round of negotiations in Potsdam should lead to a result by Wednesday at the latest.
Source: Stern
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