Gießen/Marburg (dpa/lhe) – Employees at the privatized University Hospital Gießen and Marburg (UKGM) want to increase the pressure on employers and politicians in order to enforce their long-standing demands for work relief and secure jobs. The aim is a collective agreement for which an ultimatum is to be set, as Verdi union secretary Fabian Dzewas-Rehm announced on Tuesday. UKGM employees want to present their demands to employers and politicians on Wednesday in the form of declarations of intent, for which they have collected signatures.
At a press conference on Tuesday, several employees described their everyday work and emphasized that something had to change. “I can’t work like this anymore. More staff is needed,” said a nurse. Patients depend on them and are endangered by the lack of staff.
After a long struggle, the state of Hesse and the hospital operator, Rhön-Klinikum AG, which belongs to the Asklepios Group, said they recently achieved a breakthrough in their talks on the future and financial resources of the UKGM. An agreement should be in place by the end of January.
From Verdi’s point of view, the hospital’s problems are “in no way” solved. There are two major issues that employers and politicians have to face and for which a collective agreement is required, said Dzewas-Rehm. It is about job security with a ban on the outsourcing of parts of the company and protection against dismissal as well as relieving the burden on employees in view of the serious shortage of staff.
According to Dzewas-Rehm, a 100-day ultimatum should be set until March 24, 2023. That’s how long employers and politicians would have time to “create the framework conditions for there to be a collective agreement that secures all colleagues and at the same time creates relief”. If this does not happen, the union wants to organize strikes.
