The union is seeking a collective agreement on "relief", which is to regulate binding staffing levels and better training conditions. This was preceded by a weeks-long campaign "Emergency call for relief NRW". According to Verdi state director Gabriele Schmidt, there have been political signals for negotiations, but no concrete offer and no proposal for a negotiation date yet. "We are now no longer in the situation of calling for warning strikes, but for real strikes," Schmidt said.

This was confirmed by the union secretary responsible for Bonn, Arno Appelhoff. NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst and Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann had now made vague hints of a concession, "but they have no substance whatsoever - neither on the possible content nor on the quality".

Appelhoff said that warning strikes had also been announced for Tuesday (3 May). However, he expects, at most, a minor impact on hospital operations. This Wednesday, more workers will go on all-day strike. Starting with the early shift, three wards would be closed: one dermatological, one surgical and one radiotherapy ward. According to Appelhoff, the strikes would continue indefinitely until a collective agreement was reached. The end of the strike would be decided by the collective bargaining committee, consisting of 75 unionised university hospital employees, eight of whom were employed at the UKB.

According to Verdi, emergency service agreements have been reached with three of six university hospitals, including the UKB. UKB spokesperson Viola Röser confirmed announced work stoppages when asked: "The extent of the restrictions will be agreed with the Verdi strike leadership in detail and in accordance with the emergency service agreement between the UKB and Verdi to ensure patient care." The primary objective, he said, was to ensure patient safety and to ensure "the supra-regional care of surgical accident victims“.

At this early stage of the strike action, only individual operations would have to be postponed. "We may have to arrange new surgery appointments with patients in individual cases," said Röser. This refers to longer planned operations that are not necessarily tied to the day, not to emergency operations. The spokesperson emphasised that the UKB is not a direct negotiating partner with the union. The collective bargaining negotiations with Verdi would have to take place at the state level. (Original text: Philipp Königs / Translation: Mareike Graepel)