Trade unions and employers have been negotiating the income of day-care workers and other social professions in Potsdam since Friday. In Rhineland-Palatinate, too, employees not only expect a significant financial plus.
Not only the employees in nursing or at the supermarket checkout were particularly stressed in the corona pandemic, but certainly also the educators in the day-care centers.
Loss of staff, risk of infection, constantly changing specifications: “The situation is very stressful. Overall, you feel very alone,” says Leonarda Hamm, a teacher in a daycare center in Mainz. “It needs a lot more recognition, also by being better paid,” says Hamm. That’s what it’s all about from today onwards in the collective bargaining of ver.di and the municipal employers. Most recently, in 2015, an agreement was reached on three percent more wages; in March 2020 the negotiations were interrupted because of Corona.
It’s about 330,000 day-care center educators and other employees in social and educational services nationwide. The trade unions ver.di and dbb primarily demand improvements in the classification of employees. The Association of Municipal Employers’ Associations (VKA) countered the union demands that the wages of municipal employees were already mostly higher than the wages of other social and educational service providers.
How much does a kindergarten teacher actually earn?
Immediately after the training, you get around 2,880 euros gross when you start in a municipal daycare center. And that increases over time, with ten years of professional experience it is around 3,700 euros gross.
It’s not just about the money for the employees
The employees are concerned with three aspects. First: better working conditions. This is of course about the burden of Corona, but also about other problems. The educators would like to have more time for organizational matters, for example to prepare meetings with parents or to plan educational offers.
Second point: the shortage of skilled workers. According to a survey in daycare centers last year, there is currently a lack of more than 170,000 skilled workers. This means stress and work intensification for the educators, which ultimately also affects the quality of care. And thirdly, it’s about the money: not about a specific increase – which has already been agreed for April 1st – but about a better classification. The trade unions demand that educational and social professions be upgraded and, in principle, be classified higher in the salary table.
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Annoyed parents, stressed educators, sick children – everyday pandemic life in daycare centers in the country for two years. “I can’t take it anymore,” complains a teacher from Rheinhessen.
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How do employers see it?
Municipal employers calculate that the salaries of educators have risen by 60 percent in some cases since 2009, so they see no need to reclassify the educational professions now.
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