Berlin/Düsseldorf (dpa/lnw) – The Verdi services union has called for nationwide warning strikes in daycare centers and social facilities for next Wednesday. The warning strikes are a reaction “to the completely inadequate offer from the employers from the second round of negotiations for public sector employees,” Verdi said on Friday in Berlin. Accordingly, there could be restrictions on operations and closures.
According to Verdi, the warning strikes will take place on International Women’s Day, since the majority of women work in social work, with a share of 83 percent. The trade union is also organizing demonstrations and rallies throughout Germany on March 8 this year together with the women’s organizations of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) and feminist alliances.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, Verdi is assuming widespread warning strikes in municipal facilities and social and educational services on Wednesday. According to the Verdi district, rallies and actions as part of the warning strikes are planned in more than 15 cities on this day in the most populous federal state, to which several thousand participants are expected. Among them are Aachen, Cologne, Ratingen, Essen, Dortmund and Münster.
“For more than 100 years, International Women’s Day has stood for equal rights and fair pay for women,” said Andrea Becker, head of the regional department. She pointed out that in social work it was mostly women who worked, for example in day-care centres, youth welfare offices and advice centres. The working conditions are often precarious. Whether part-time or temporary, women felt the consequences of the current crises most clearly. In many cases there is also a lack of financial recognition for work in the social professions.
Verdi and the civil servants’ association dbb are demanding 10.5 percent more income for the approximately 2.5 million employees, but at least 500 euros more per month. In the second round of negotiations last week, despite an offer from the employer, there was no rapprochement.
