As 26,000 German Hospital Workers Walk Out, a Separate Doctors’ Deal Highlights Labour Market Rifts
12.06.2026 - 00:23:48 | boerse-global.de
Tensions on Germany’s university hospital wards came to a head on 15 and 16 June, when the Verdi union called roughly 26,000 employees at the Freiburg, Heidelberg, Ulm and Tübingen sites out on two-day warning strikes. The walkouts follow months of deadlocked negotiations — employers have not yet tabled an offer and have terminated a collective agreement that shielded staff from rationalisation measures. Verdi is demanding a 7.5 percent pay rise, with a minimum monthly increase of €320, while trainees are to receive €250 plus a mobility allowance. Emergency care will continue, but non-urgent surgeries face delays. Employer representative Heinz Falszewski has promised a proposal at the next round on 17 June. Verdi lead negotiator Jakob Becker was blunt: “We will not let them take away our right to strike.”
Just days earlier, a very different outcome emerged for a separate group of hospital staff. The Marburger Bund, representing around 25,000 physicians at state-owned university hospitals, reached a deal with the Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Länder (TdL). Medics will receive 2.95 percent more pay retroactive to 1 April, with an additional 2.45 percent due on 1 September 2027. The agreement runs for 28 months. Andreas Botzlar of the Marburger Bund highlighted the early first instalment as a decisive factor. Silke Schneider (Greens) led the negotiations for the employers.
The contrast between the two developments underscores the fragmented state of Germany’s labour landscape. That fragmentation was also the backdrop to a high-level meeting at the Chancellery on 10 June, where Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), employers’ president Rainer Dulger and DGB chairwoman Yasmin Fahimi spent several hours discussing the labour market, social insurance, red tape and tax policy. The atmosphere was described as constructive, but concrete decisions were absent. The government plans to assemble a reform package by the summer break in mid-July, with a coalition committee on 1 July set to finalise the cornerstones. In his government statement on Thursday, Merz stressed the need for change. The opposition — Greens, Left Party and AfD — criticised the plans as either insufficient or socially unjust. Verdi chief Frank Werneke in turn called for a higher inheritance tax and the reintroduction of a wealth tax, arguing that the income-tax reform scheduled for January 2027 to relieve lower earners must be offset.
Beyond the political wrangling, a structural worry persists. According to the Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Institut (WSI) of the Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, only 49 percent of employees now work in firms with a collective agreement. That figure falls far short of the threshold set by the EU’s Minimum Wage Directive, which requires a national action plan when collective-bargaining coverage drops below 80 percent. The deadline passed at the end of 2025, and Germany is among six EU member states yet to submit a plan. The Labour Ministry said internal government consultations are ongoing. Left Party politician Pascal Meiser called the delay “a disgrace” and warned of a potential EU infringement procedure.
Elsewhere in the public and industrial sectors, separate negotiations have yielded mixed results. The Westdeutsche Rundfunk (WDR) and the VRFF union agreed on salary increases of up to 5.73 percent over 35 months, retroactive to 1 February. In the steel industry, IG Metall is sounding alarms over potential job losses. Deputy union chief Jürgen Kerner estimates that around 20,000 positions are at risk, particularly at plants such as Salzgitter and in Saarland. The cause, he said, is weakened climate-policy frameworks, including the emissions-trading system. German crude steel production slid to 34.1 million tonnes in 2025 — the lowest level since 2009. Rallies are planned for 12 June in Berlin and Völklingen.
