Result not yet known – warning strike by staff in doctor’s practices ends with collective bargaining agreement
imago images/ Kai Kitschenberg/ Funke Photo Services
Audio: Antenna Brandenburg | 02/08/2024 | Matthias Bartsch | Image: imago images/ Kai Kitschenberg/ Funke Photo Services
Longer waiting times for patients or even closed medical practices: On Thursday, practice staff throughout Germany were called on to go on warning strike by the VMF association. On the same day, the association announced a collective agreement.
The one-day warning strike by practice staff ended with a collective agreement: the collective bargaining partners agreed on a deal in their negotiations on Thursday, as the Association of Medical Professionals (VMF) announced. Nothing was initially announced about the content of the agreement. The collective bargaining partners had agreed “not to announce the result until after the declaration period ended on February 16th,” it said.
The association had 330,000 medical assistants, physician assistants and physician assistants nationwide for Thursday Strike called. According to the information, it was the first warning strike in the history of the association, which has been conducting collective bargaining for medical assistants since 1969.
According to the VMF, more than 200 strike participants gathered in front of the Federal Medical Association building in Berlin in the run-up to the negotiations and protested for more salaries. Association president and negotiator Hannelore König was satisfied with the response to the warning strike: MFA (medical assistants) are “not train drivers,” she explained, alluding to the last major strike at Deutsche Bahn. The problem is much more complicated and lies to an important extent in the system of financing the healthcare system.
KV Brandenburg supports strike
The Brandenburg Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVBB) supported the warning strike. Chairwoman Catrin Steiniger explained that A shortage of skilled workers in this area threatens outpatient care, so the demand for better pay is understandable.
Hannelore König said that she assumed that the patients also had a high level of understanding for the strike. After all, you would know what the medical assistants do.
The association had warned in advance that the processes in the practices would take longer and that some treatments could not be carried out. Some practices could also remain closed completely – but the emergency service would not be affected.
KV Berlin: Practices can hardly cope with additional expenses
The KV Berlin also shows understanding for the demands, but due to the current economic situation it is hardly possible for the practices to cover the additional expenses, explained the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians “Tagesspiegel” [externer Link]. Any wage increases would have to be adequately financed by health insurance companies and politicians.
König said about the negotiations: “Our employer side argues with the economic pressure in doctors’ practices, but we now see the need for action and that the salaries of medical assistants must increase significantly because we are the healthcare profession that is far behind in the healthcare system.” Due, among other things, to the stress during the corona pandemic, many medical assistants have already left the profession in recent years, says König. According to a survey from last year, 39 percent of those still working would think about leaving at least once a month.
Broadcast: Antenne Brandenburg, February 8, 2024, 8:00 a.m