German hospital doctors walk out in latest pay dispute

BERLIN

Thousands of German doctors at university hospitals walked off the job on Monday to demand wage increases and improvements in their working conditions.

The Marburger Bund union, which represents the doctors, said walkouts were staged in nearly two dozen cities, including Aachen, Bonn, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Heidelberg, and Munich.

During the strikes, most of the university hospitals provided only emergency care and minimal services, while thousands of doctors joined rallies in the city centers to call attention to their concerns.

Due to the warning strike, patients will probably have to put up with longer waiting times and the postponement of non-urgent operations in the next few days, the union said in a statement.

Andreas Botzlar, deputy chairman of the doctors’ union, criticized authorities for overlooking the problems in the university hospitals, and failing to take the necessary steps.

"Our members in the university hospitals have the longest weekly working hours, they are caring for the highest number of patients in maximum care, and they also have other responsibilities such as teaching and doing research,” he told public broadcaster NDR.

He underlined that federal states and authorities have to make "substantial improvements" to doctors’ salaries and working conditions, in order to prevent the collapse of university hospitals.

The Marburger Bund has decided to stage a warning strike after the fourth round of negotiations with the federal states failed last month.

The union is demanding a 12.5% pay increase for around 20,000 doctors at the university hospitals, as well as higher rates for work at night, at weekends and on public holidays. Doctors are also demanding changes to long shifts and on-call working arrangements.

The union says the salary of doctors working at university hospitals is much lower than their colleagues at municipal hospitals, although they have to work more intensive shifts.