Reminder: as good as German social and liberal capitalism is for workers in comparison to the rest of the world, it is still a capitalist state.
Workers have gone on strike demanding fair wages. But their employer is having none of it, and sacked 14 of those workers without warning. The employer then threatened to lay-off 800 more workers if the strike continues.
So far, that sounds like a lot of campaigns we've run in the past.
Except that this time, the workers are in Germany.
Germany has one of the oldest and strongest trade union movements in the world.
But Ameos, a private for-profit hospital corporation, is refusing to sign an agreement with the workers' union, Ver.di. Those workers have now begun an open-ended strike.
Please take a moment to show your support:
http://www.labourstart.org/go/verdi
And please share this message with your friends, family and fellow union members.
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Victory in Germany!
Victory in Germany!
A few days ago LabourStart launched a campaign in support of striking hospital workers in Germany. Today, we have some good news -- we have suspended the campaign at the request of the union. The workers have won a huge victory.
I'll let the union have the last word on this. This is a message we just received from Ver.di's Sylvia Bühler, a member of the union's board and head of health and social services:
There's movement in the collective bargaining dispute at Ameos in Sachsen-Anhalt. After an exploratory meeting, the hospital company agreed to finally start negotiations on a collective bargaining agreement. The absolute blockade of the employer has been broken up – a huge success, first of all thanks to the striking colleagues and the enormous wave of solidarity.
For the sake of the negotiations, the strike in the hospitals in the cities of Bernburg, Aschersleben-Staßfurt, Schönebeck and Haldensleben is being suspended for four weeks. We now expect Ameos to come to the table with a negotiable offer. The discrimination of the employees at Ameos as compared to other hospital employees in the region has to end quickly. It is also clear, that the at least 14 dismissed have to be reinstated. There has to be a good solution for all those affected. We remain ready for action.
The workers in Sachsen-Anhalt have shown they can move even a company like Ameos. They stood together and did not let up in an exemplary manner.
The impressive solidarity was also decisive for this success. Workers from all over Germany and many other countries have bolstered up the strikers with their solidarity messages. Various ver.di activists travelled hundreds of kilometres in order to show their support on the ground. Ameos was flooded with protest messages – 7970 alone from all over the world through the online platform “LabourStart”. The
broader public and the persons politically in charge positioned themselves in favour of the worker’s demands. All of this helped to move the company to agree to the negotiations.
This is how unions work: workers uniting, and standing in for their collective interest determined and in solidarity. Supported by a strong community.
My deep gratitude to everybody who helped.