Movements for systemic reform: Striking and lobbying for safe staffing in German hospitals

Nurses went on strike at one of Europe’s largest hospitals, Charité Berlin, in June 2015 (Kunkel, 2016, p. 253; Becker et al., 2017, p. 8). The strike lasted for ten days and it resulted in the first collective agreement in Germany that addressed the issue of work overload in hospitals by introducing safe staffing standards . The new system brought radical change, because it stripped the hospital management of its unilateral power to decide on how many employees it allocates to specific tasks at given shifts. With this result, the 2015 strike delivered a historic victory for nurses and their trade union ver.di. The turnaround of fortunes was even more remarkable if we consider that between 2003-2006, Charité did not have a collective agreement at all.