Strike action stepped up in Germany

Doctors in Germany are continuing to down tools as a dispute over pay and working conditions escalates.

Strike action started at several university clinics last Thursday. It has now been extended, with a number of psychiatric hospitals joining in. Non-urgent operations are being delayed by the walkout that has hit several areas. The medics are demanding a 30 per cent wage rise and tighter limits on working hours. Their protest comes as the nation’s biggest public service stoppage in over a decade enters its seventh week after arbitrators failed to find a compromise. Thousands of municipal workers including rubbish collecters, nursery teachers and hospital staff are protesting at plans to raise the working week to at least 40 hours and cut bonuses.

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