Czech union organizes four more care homes

The ALICE union, which has been supported by UNI’s European Organizing Centre COZZ since June 2020, is pushing to improve working conditions and change lives at one of Czechia’s largest elderly care providers

Workers at Alzheimer Home in České Budějovice, Zlínn, Česká Lípa and Filipov are celebrating a big win after simultaneously founding unions at each of their facilities, covering over 375 workers.

After successfully signing one of the first collective agreements in the Czech care sector earlier in the year at the Jihlava centre, organizers used the agreement (which runs until the end of 2023 and covers around 70 workers), as a base to push for agreements at the other 4 Alzheimers homes.

“We want to provide quality care to our clients, and to do that we need good working conditions. That’s why we joined the union,” said a newly organized worker. “We care for our clients with love, but we also need decent working conditions, which we can only achieve through collective bargaining and a voice on the job.”

Workers across the 4 sites are working together as one – they are electing a common negotiating team, taking decisions as a team, and standing together in solidarity to fight for fair rights and dignity on the job.

Working in the home is mentally, physically and emotionally demanding, and workers need decent conditions in order to care effectively for the clients they care deeply about. The union is fighting for an end to poor staffing ratios, gruelling long shifts and a pay rise which matches inflation.

“Today is a huge day for care workers in Czechia,” said Dana Búriková, ALICE UZO union chair-woman and leader of the union in Alzheimer Home. “Workers are taking the fight to the company and demanding better wages and conditions.”

“Together, we are standing up for our colleagues, our clients, and our rights to get the fair pay and decent work we deserve.”

ALICE is affiliated to UZO, the trades logistics and services union.

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