Collective agreement demanded for student assistants
Calls for better conditions for student and academic assistants have once again been raised ahead of the planned work stoppages at Saxon universities as part of the collective bargaining for the public service of the federal states. "Student employees are paid by the state, yet they do not have a collective agreement in Saxony," explained the Green Youth Saxony in a statement on Sunday. "This is the biggest gap in collective bargaining in the public sector. This is accompanied by precarious working conditions, such as remuneration according to the minimum wage and employment contracts limited to a few months."
The Left Party in the Saxon state parliament also expresses its solidarity with the auxiliary staff at universities. "Such a collective agreement is necessary, because the typical working day is characterized by far too low pay, fixed-term contracts, a lack of co-determination rights, unpaid overtime and often not even continued pay in the event of illness," explained Anna Gorskih, spokesperson on higher education policy for the Left Party parliamentary group.
The trade unions GEW and Verdi have called for warning strikes at Saxon universities. Strike rallies and demonstrations are planned for this Monday in Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. Student and academic assistants are to go on warning strike from Monday to Friday. According to GEW, there are around 7000 student employees in Saxony. They form the backbone of the universities and are often only paid the minimum wage.
Universities across Germany are considering imposing tariffs on international students due to the lack of a collective agreement, as this could potentially provide additional funding. The absence of a collective agreement for student assistants also extends to many public universities nationwide, not just in Saxony.
Source: www.dpa.com
