The trade union Verdi has called on staff at Berlin’s Charité university hospital to stage further warning strikes on Thursday and Friday this week. According to rbb24, early, late and night shifts at the Charité’s Mitte, Virchow and Benjamin Franklin sites are affected, and a court hearing on emergency staffing during the strikes takes place on Wednesday.
What happened
Verdi, one of Germany’s largest trade unions and the one representing many hospital workers, has called a new round of Warnstreiks at the Charité. A Warnstreik, or warning strike, is a short, time-limited walkout that unions in Germany use to put pressure on employers while pay and working conditions are still being negotiated.
rbb24 reports that the strike calls cover Thursday and Friday. Staff working early, late and night shifts at three Charité locations are included: Mitte, Virchow and Benjamin Franklin.
According to rbb24, Verdi’s demands include reducing the workload on hospital staff and giving workers effective compensation for particularly demanding shifts. These are not the first strikes in this dispute. rbb24 notes that Verdi already called its members out on warning strikes in September to support its demands in the current Tarifrunde, the round of collective bargaining between union and employer.
Separately, the Landesarbeitsgericht, the regional labour appeals court for Berlin and Brandenburg, is hearing a case on Wednesday about how much Notdienst must be kept running during strikes. Notdienst is the emergency staffing that has to stay on duty so that essential patient care continues while others strike.
Last month the Arbeitsgericht, the first-level labour court, set the staffing levels for this emergency service. Verdi said it considers those levels too high and hopes the court will reduce them before the new strikes start, rbb24 reports. The Charité argues that a large emergency service is needed to make sure medical care is maintained.
What it means for you
If you live in Berlin and use the Charité, the strike may affect you on Thursday and Friday, depending on where and when you are treated. Based on the rbb24 report, here is what is known:
- Which sites: the Charité’s Mitte, Virchow and Benjamin Franklin locations.
- Which days: Thursday and Friday of this week.
- Which shifts: early, late and night shifts.
- Emergency care: an emergency service will be in place during the strikes. How many staff it must include is the question the court is hearing on Wednesday.
The rbb24 report does not say whether planned operations, outpatient appointments or other treatment will be postponed. If you or a family member have an appointment or a planned procedure at one of the three sites on those days, contact the relevant Charité clinic or department to find out whether it will go ahead as planned.
If you have a medical emergency, do not delay seeking help because of the strike. The point of the Notdienst is to keep essential care available.
If you work at the Charité, the strike call comes from Verdi. Contact the union or your staff representatives for details on who is called to strike and who is assigned to emergency duty.
What to watch next
The main thing to watch is Wednesday’s hearing at the Landesarbeitsgericht. If the court reduces the emergency staffing levels, as Verdi wants, more staff could take part in the strike on Thursday and Friday. If the court keeps the current levels, as the Charité argues it should, a larger share of staff will stay on duty.
The wider bargaining round between Verdi and the Charité is still unresolved. rbb24 does not report any date for further negotiations or any further strike plans after Friday. Since this is the second round of warning strikes after September, it is worth following local news for any new strike calls if you rely on Charité services.
Source: rbb24
Sources
- rbb24: Charité-Kliniken sollen Donnerstag und Freitag bestreikt werden, accessed 14 October 2026
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