Healthcare workers protest draft law threatening jobs and conditions

A protest has broken out against a draft law on statutory health insurance funding. Workers, unions, and hospital operators fear worsening conditions and potential job losses if the legislation passes in its current form. An emergency meeting is set for Thursday morning to push back against the proposals.

The demonstration centres on concerns over the Bundestag’s planned reforms. Employees, staff councils, and the Verdi union argue the changes would degrade working conditions and threaten jobs. Hospital managers have also raised objections to the draft law.

An extraordinary general meeting will begin at 8 a.m. on Thursday to reinforce these demands. Later, between 9:30 and 10:15 a.m., a photo campaign is planned in the pathology building’s lecture hall on Reisingerweg. Rhineland-Palatinate’s Health Minister Clemens Hoch and coalition lawmakers from the Bundestag have been invited to attend the discussions. The protesters insist the law must not be approved without significant revisions.

The meeting and photo campaign aim to highlight the risks posed by the draft legislation. If passed unchanged, the law could lead to job cuts and poorer working conditions across the sector. Organisers hope the event will pressure lawmakers to reconsider the proposals.