Protests against cuts to social services – a necessity and an opportunity

The resolution adopted at the founding conference of the Care Revolution network states, amongst other things: “A good life is at odds with the competitive and profit-driven logic of capitalism. We will no longer accept this subordination. The Care Revolution places people and their living conditions at the centre. Together, we can create conditions under which diverse, individual, collective and societal needs and interests can be realised: a good life for everyone – worldwide!”

That was twelve years ago, in the spring of 2014. We founded our network at a time when the care movement was gaining momentum and taking shape. A great deal had happened in the years between the financial crisis and 2014. For example: queer-feminist organisations were gaining momentum. Grassroots, democratically organised and feminist-inspired strikes were organised in childcare centres and transformed the trade union landscape. ‘Pflege am Boden’ (Care on the Ground) spread across the country as a grassroots organisation of care workers. In autumn 2013, the ver.di works council at Charité Berlin initiated a support alliance that spoke on behalf of patients and their relatives, and half a year later began the first strike for a collective agreement to ease the workload of care staff; both of these initiatives were taken up in many cities.

In this situation, the network’s founders saw a good opportunity to bring about fundamental change. Securing improvements for those of us in caregiving relationships was, and remains, an urgent necessity. Care work, particularly when unpaid, is systematically devalued under capitalism. Furthermore, under capitalist conditions, people are measured and judged by the nature and extent of their participation in the labour market. As a result, people for whom care plays a significant role in their lives are particularly affected by overburdening and poverty. This is evident, for example, in the case of single parents, family carers or people who rely on personal assistance. Furthermore, the cost pressures on care institutions and the neoliberal retreat from public services affect not only service users but, through the pressure on working conditions, also staff in hospitals, care services and other care facilities.

As early as 2014, conditions in the care sector had become untenable. They were such that striking care workers, for example, were entirely justified in emphasising: “It is not the strike that poses a risk to health, but the status quo!” Since then, despite the dominance of neoliberal politics, there has even been limited progress, achieved jointly and in parallel by the many different actors within the care movement: A new, feminist-led culture of strike action in the care sectors has spread and achieved successes in labour disputes. The 8 March demonstrations have gained momentum since around 2018 and have increasingly focused on care issues. Solidarity alliances in connection with strikes in nurseries or hospitals are now a regular occurrence. Issues of collective responsibility for care work, as well as queer-feminist and eco-feminist positions, have become embedded within the social left and are now an integral part of it. And perhaps most importantly: when care workers find the overwhelming burden of their tasks too much to bear, the reaction is less and less one of shame and more and more one of anger at being left to cope with the work on their own.

To mark its fifth anniversary, a statement from the network emphasised once again that good care requires collective and societal control over the places and conditions in which care work is carried out: “But if we are serious about organising care on the basis of solidarity, we need this radical democracy. That is why, firstly, we are striving for a social infrastructure in which all those affected can decide together on the provision and organisation of care relationships. And that is why, secondly, we are also campaigning for community-based solutions, ranging from neighbourhood health centres to cooking together and looking after the children. Ultimately, successful care requires even more: homes where many people can live together; neighbourhoods that have space for collective care facilities; consideration for the needs of everyone who lives here; and the participation of all in every decision that affects them.”

No doubt everyone still remembers the applause for hospital staff and the government’s talk of the importance of care and solidarity during the Covid-19 pandemic. As absurd as it was to hear this from the very people responsible for the shortcomings in the care sector – it was important that care work received more attention in this situation, and as the Care Revolution network, we sought to promote this in 2021 through the ‘Space for Care’ campaign and to link it to our demands.

Now, however, the situation has changed dramatically: rather than moving towards a care economy based on solidarity, we are witnessing a sweeping attack on social rights and social safeguards – a response by the government to economic stagnation and the increasingly brutal struggle for spheres of global influence. This attack cuts across the provisions of the Social Security Code (SGB) and labour laws; it affects all households that rely on earned income and state benefits.

A ver.di newsletter to members summarises the plans succinctly, though still incompletely: “Under the federal government’s plans, you will have to work longer in future, whilst the statutory pension level is set to fall. Fixed-term contracts without objective grounds are to be extended from two to four years. The 8-hour working day is to be eroded, making working hours of up to 13 hours a day possible. If you fall ill, you will in future be required to provide a doctor’s note from the very first day, regardless of whether doctors’ surgeries are packed with patients or not.”

In return, you’ll face even higher co-payments and personal contributions for lower-quality healthcare and care services. The aim is to save money primarily by capping incomes and worsening working conditions in the healthcare sector, in the care sector and at health insurance funds. Whilst hospitals face a new wave of closures, your care is no longer guaranteed.

Cuts are also being made to housing benefit, individual school support and the right of people with disabilities to choose their own accommodation. Furthermore, in the areas of child, youth and integration support, the funding of collectively agreed wages is hanging in the balance and staffing requirements are under threat. This is putting social work under even greater pressure. In the federal public sector and its agencies, one in eight posts is to be cut and replaced by AI, without there being a plan as to how this is to be achieved …”

Our fundamental critique from 2014 remains relevant. The goal of a society centred on care, solidarity and respect for the ecological limits of production also remains valid. Yet at the same time, the current priority is to ward off the threat of ever-increasing austerity measures. This also presents an opportunity: to speak out clearly about what money must be spent on, and what resources and working hours are needed – resources that are currently being channelled into the construction and purchase of weapons systems, into dividends or luxury consumption. To communicate our vision of a society based on solidarity and centred on care. To ensure that the crisis is not played out at the expense of the weakest, the most vulnerable and the least visible, and thereby to gain self-confidence and strength.

There are already protest alliances and opportunities to take part in many places. We’d like to provide links here to some of the places where you can find them. See you there!

https://www.die-linke.de/mitmachen/kampagnen/es-reicht-das-leben-bezahlbar-machen/

https://www.verdi.de/stabilbleiben-sozialgestalten/rette-uns-den-sozialstaat

https://www.labournet.de/politik/sopo/grundsaetzliches/gewerkschaften-sozialabbau-und-widerstand-fast-25-jahre-theorie-und-praxis/#Proteste

https://igbau.de/Demos2026.html

https://umverteilen-statt-sozialabbau.de/

There are relatively few collections documenting events that have taken place. As well as searching the website of your favourite daily newspaper, you can make use of the following sources:

https://www.labournet.de/politik/sopo/grundsaetzliches/gewerkschaften-sozialabbau-und-widerstand-fast-25-jahre-theorie-und-praxis/

https://www.labournet.de/politik/sopo/grundsaetzliches/wird-der-herbst-der-gegenwehr-sozialabbau-verhindern-im-sommer-2026-nachgeholt/

https://forum.chefduzen.de/index.php?topic=332970.60

We would like to report regularly on developments in the various areas of care work – including cuts and sanctions, but also acts of resistance. These contributions are brought together in the ‘Social Protests’ project. You can support us by sending us reports on what you are experiencing and doing!

The article was written for the website’s editorial team by Matthias Neumann