Employers reject the Marburger Bund’s claim

The Association of Municipal Employers’ Associations (VKA) has rejected the collective bargaining demands of the Marburger Bund doctors’ union for doctors in municipal hospitals. They were “excessively exaggerated,” said Wolfgang Heyl from the VKA on Thursday. In the case of the houses, they would “cause a cost volume of around 673 million euros,” he added.

In the collective bargaining dispute regarding the municipal clinics, the Marburg Federation is calling for the approximately 60,000 doctors “a real compensation for the inflation trend since the last pay increase in October 2021 and a linear salary increase of 2.5 percent”. Between October 2021 and October 2022 alone, the cumulative price increase was 10.4 percent.

In fact, the demands of the Marburger Bund are almost 13 percent, criticized the VKA. The increased costs would also affect the hospitals themselves, many were already in the red. “The Marburger Bund is also completely ignoring the fact that the federal government’s relief packages are leading to a significant reduction in price increases,” Heyl accused the union.

With a degree like the one demanded by the Marburger Bund, services of general interest are no longer guaranteed, explained Heyl. He called on the union not to “ignore the economic situation of the municipal hospitals”. Most recently, both sides had agreed on a collective bargaining agreement in May. The fee was increased by 3.35 percent from October 1, 2021. The new collective bargaining starts on January 23rd.