Health and care block at the 8 March demo in Berlin

On International Women's* Struggle Day on 8 March, people around the world will take their feminist struggles for emancipation, self-determination and a dignified life to the streets. We are taking part with a health and care block at the Berlin Women's* Struggle Day demonstration 2018! Come to the Women's* Struggle Day demonstration on 8 March at 5 pm at Hermannplatz. Take part in the health and care block! Meeting point at Hermannplatz/corner of Hasenheide. Bring work clothes and utensils or become visible as patients and relatives! We use the term "care" to summarise all areas of public and private care work - the care, upbringing and education of children and the care of the sick and elderly. In this care sector, sexism, racism and social discrimination determine the unequal distribution of income, work and recognition. Women* predominate in the health and care professions and in the care sector as a whole. The proportion of female* workers in the health and care sector is 91 per cent. This is due to the fact that in our society, care is ascribed to women* in particular as a natural characteristic. A direct consequence of this is that these areas are characterised by poorly paid or unpaid work and a lack of recognition. Wage costs are squeezed for a profit-oriented healthcare system, which increases the workload and the quality of care suffers. The length of stay of patients in hospitals is constantly decreasing, one carer has to look after more and more patients. At the same time, the revenues of profit-orientated hospital groups are increasing. Employees suffer from the stress of work and from not being able to perform their work to their own standards. This overwork also has an impact on patients. This applies, for example, to the high risk of becoming infected with hospital germs or to situations in which patients in need of help have to wait to see if and when someone will look after them. In private life, too, it is often women* who fill the gaps in the state healthcare system with unpaid care work. It is predominantly women* who compensate for the 'bloody discharges' from cost-optimised hospitals. They care for their relatives and forgo income, pension entitlements and self-care in return. For many daughters, partners, friends and granddaughters, part-time employment and poverty in old age are a consequence of their invisible and unpaid care work being taken for granted. Those who are unable to care for their relatives themselves and do not want to place them in care homes in turn employ poorer and disenfranchised women*, often migrants, in unprotected conditions in private households. In Berlin, the collective bargaining struggles of Charité employees in recent years have shown that it is worth fighting for better conditions in the care and healthcare sector. The referendum for Healthy Hospitals now aims to obtain a law that sets minimum staffing levels for nurses and other professional groups and increases public investment in hospitals(www.volksentscheid-gesunde-krankenhaeuser.de). We, the callers, demand sufficient funding and a profit ban for the healthcare system and access to healthcare for all people! We are in favour of improvements in paid and unpaid care work. Health must not be a commodity, sick people must not be a means of maximising profits. Carers must not be a cost factor, relatives or friends as well as disenfranchised and illegalised people must not be the stopgaps of an ailing system.Berlin alliance for more staff in hospitals | Care Revolution Berlin | Pflegeazubis vernetztHere you can find the call for the health and care block in layouted form. And the general call for 8 March can be found here.