Charité staff strike again, rally outside Berlin's newly convening parliament
The Verdi union has called staff at Berlin's Charité hospital out on another warning strike Thursday, with a rally outside the state parliament as it meets for the first time. A strike ballot is underway.
Archive image · Photo: Minderbinder / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Staff at Berlin's Charité university hospital are on strike again Thursday after the Verdi union called a warning strike. A rally is planned from 9 to 10 a.m. outside the Berlin state parliament, which meets for the first time in its new composition that day. Strikers want binding commitments from exploratory talks on a coalition of the Social Democrats, Greens and Left Party.
The dispute centers on an agreement that sets nurse staffing levels and compensation for understaffed shifts. The Charité terminated it as of Aug. 31, and talks have been underway since July. Verdi says management wants to cut the compensation and loosen staffing rules for operations, putting patient safety at risk. Verdi says there have been more than 10 warning strike days so far.
A ballot on an open-ended strike began Monday and runs until Nov. 5. At least 75% approval is required, with results due Nov. 6. During earlier warning strikes, the Charité canceled scheduled treatments and reduced operating-room capacity.