Conference: Towards New Strategies for Health and Carework 16–18 October 2015, Berlin

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Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Franz-Mehring-Platz 1, Berlin

Organized by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the parliamentary fraction of DIE LINKE and the Care Revolution Network

Supported by: attac, express – newspaper for socialist shopfloor and trade-union work, Office for Homecaring Relatives Berlin, Initiative Against Impoverishment Through Carework, IL – Interventionist Left Berlin, members of the CeBeeF bargaining committee, Association for the Mobility of Persons with Disabilities, Groundlevel Care, UAPA – Independent Body for the Representation of the Interests of Persons Employed in the Personal Care Sector, ver.di Shopfloor Group at Berlin's Charité Hospital, ver.di Section 3 – Health and Social Issues, Berlin- Brandenburg, vdää – Association of Democratic Doctors, We Care Association

Carework and Healthcare are massively affected by the neoliberal restructuring of the welfare state. High-quality care is increasingly out of reach for those who cannot afford it. Employees suffer from stress, low wages and precarious employment relations. The pressure is also increasing for those who are caring for relatives or friends. We need a fundamental change of perspective – ReCare! During the conference, we will discuss these issues with the persons requiring care and their relatives, as well as with employees, trade unions and welfare associations, with an eye to developing new strategies. How can we begin to shut down this system? How do we go about creating an infrastructure oriented towards people's needs, one that is funded in a solidary manner and structured democratically? How can we defend ourselves against the precarization of living and working conditions? How do we go about crafting innovative alliances capable of effective action?

Thursday, 15 October 2015 19:00–21:00: LAUNCH EVENT

Austerity Kills – Movements for alternative healthcare provision in the Europe of the Crisis With ALEXIS BENOS (Solidary Clinic, Thessaloniki, University of Thessaloniki): Why austerity makes people ill and solidarity makes them healthy; LUIS DANIEL MARTIN (Marea Blanca, Spain): Against Privatization and the Policy of Retrenchment: A Social Movement for a Public Healthcare Sector; SOFIE BLANKE (Doctors for the People, Workers’ Party of Belgium, PTB): Remaining Resistant: Between Movement, Party and Patient; chair: NADJA RAKOWITZ (vdää, express newspaper) TRANSLATION: German/English

Friday, 16 October 2015 14:00–17:00: INTRODUCTORY WORKSHOPS

E1: The Hospital Funding System: Towards a Critique of the DRG-System — with PETER HOFFMANN (vdää) E2: Psychiatric Hospitals: The Shift Towards Case-Rate Funding (PEPP) — with DAGMAR PATERNOGA (attac, Anti-PEPP Alliance) E3: Medical and Nursing Care Insurance: Problems and Solidary Alternatives — with FLORIAN SCHULZE (speaker on healthcare and nursing care policy, parliamentary faction of Party) E4: The Crisis of Social Reproduction and the Care Revolution Network — with BARBARA FRIED and ANN WIESENTHAL (Care Revolution Network) E5: The Economization of the Social: A Critique of the Political Economy of the Healthcare Sector — with NADJA RAKOWITZ (vdää and express) E6: Carework – What is it? — with the QUEERFEM Work Group of IL Berlin

18:00–20:30: RECEPTION AND OPENING PANEL Overcoming PreCAREty: Good Public Services for All! With (Member of the , chairwoman of the Left Party): The Future of Public Services: How do we Want to Live and Work?; ERICA SMILEY (Jobs with Justice/Caring Across Generations, USA): New Alliances for a Caring Society; WERNER HESSE (managing director of the German Association of Welfare Organizations/Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband): Social Inequality and the Crisis of Public Services; chair: HANNAH SCHURIAN (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation) TRANSLATION: German/English

20:30 onward: Get-Together

Satuday, 17 October

10:00–11:00: OPENING LECTURES Sick of it all! Perspectives on the Crisis of Carework and Healthcare With ARIANE BRENSSELL (professor at Braunschweig University, Care Revolution Network): Old Contradictions, New Crises: Carework Under Neoliberalism; HEINRICH BUSCHMANN (chairman of the Association for the Mobility of Persons with Disabilities): The Privatization of Social Risks and Obstacles to Social Participation; MEIKE JÄGER (leader of the section on health and social issues, ver.di Berlin- Brandenburg): The Intensification of Work and Cost Pressure in Carework; chair: HARALD WEINBERG (Member of the Bundestag, speaker on health policy of the Left Party parliamentary faction)

11:15–13:15: WORKSHOPS (TRACK A)

A1: Shared Carework – Shared Interests? An Exchange Between Persons Caring for Family Members and Persons Employed in Outpatient Carework — with SUSANNE HALLERMANN (Homecaring Relatives, Initiative Against Impoverishment Through Carework); ALICIA (geriatric nurse, daycarer, Lossetal); N.N. (organization for the representation of employee interests, outpatient care); BENJAMIN SALZMANN (Office for Homecaring Relatives, Berlin); chair: Julia Garscha

A2: Ways out of the Case-Rate System: The Alliance for a Healthy Hospital Introduces Itself — with HARALD WEINBERG (Member of the Bundestag, speaker on health policy issues, parliamentary faction of the Left Party): Solidarity and Adequate Care Instead of Competition and Cost Pressure – Possibilities of Need-Based Hospital Funding; NADJA RAKOWITZ (vdää and express): A Major Project That Failed: Consequences of the Diagnosis-Related Groups System and Political Resistance; GRIT WOLF (ver.di shopfloor group and bargaining committee at Berlin's Charité Hospital): What's Causing Cost Pressure? Trade-Union Educational Work in Hospitals; chair: JAN LATZA

A3: Assistance Requirements and Assistance Work – Common Interests? — A Discussion on Self- Determination, Measures Against Disabilities and Labor Contracts. With Activists from the Work Group With/Without Disabilties (AK_MOB), the CeBeeF Association/Frankfurt on the Main, the Trade Union on Work and Social Issues (VBBA), the Independent Bodies for the Representation of the Interests of Persons Employed in the Personal Care Sector (UAPA) and KATRIN WERNDER (Member of the Bundestag, speaker on disability policy, parliamentary faction of the Left Party; chair: REBECCA MASKOS (Mondkalb newspaper)

A4: Economy versus Humans: Economic Pressure in Psychiatric Hospitals — Discussion on Counciling Offers for Victims of Sexual Violence and Ways to Adequate Services. With DAGMAR PATERNOGA (attac, Anti-PEPP Alliance); KARIN BERGDOLL (AKF Association – Work Group on Women's Health in Medicine, Psychotherapy and Society); ARIANE BRENSSELL (Braunschweig University, critical psychologist); THOMAS SCHLINGMANN (Tauwetter – Drop-In Center for Men Exposed to Sexual Violence as Boys); chair: ANN WIESENTHAL (Care Revolution Network)

A5: Hospices and Palliative Services: Passing Away in a Self-Determined Manner? — With GITA NEUMANN (Humanist Association of Germany): The Myth of the Hospice and the Reality of Palliative Medicine: A Humane End to Life as a Vision?; MARK CASTENS (petitioner to the Bundestag for the extension of hospice services): Passing Away "at Home" – Including in the Retirement Home?; CLAUDIA LANGANKI (director of the Bärenherz children's hospice): A General Hospice Culture or a World Apart? Experiences with Terminally Ill Children and their Families; chair: SONJA KEMNITZ (speaker on health policy and nursing policy issues, parliamentary faction of the Left Party)

A6: Outpatient Healthcare: Privatized, Fragmented, Commercialized — Critical Analysis of Outpatient Care and Discussion on Interdisciplinary, Need-Oriented Alternatives in Urban and Rural Areas. With Bernhard Winter (resident internist, vdää board member); Viola Schubert-Lehnhardt (RLS Saxony-Anhalt); Birgit Wöllert (Member of the Bundestag, parliamentary faction of the Left Party); chair: Kirsten Schubert (vdää)

A7: "All Wheels Stand Still…?" Left (Alliance) Perspectives in Struggles over Carework — with Barbara Fried (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Care Revolution Network): Valorizing Carework in its Entirety; Luigi Wolf (Work Group on Strategic Unionism, Left Party and Marx21 Network): The Strategic Significance of Production Power for the Emancipation of Carework; N.N. (ver.di) [unconfirmed]: Challenges Associated with Broad Alliances – Experiences from the Daycare Center Strikes; chair: Hannah Schurian (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation)

A8: Immigrant Carework in Private Households: Self-Organization and Trade-Union Representation — with Bozena Domanska (VPOD Respect Network): The Self-Organization of Eastern European Nurses in 24-Hour Nursing; Sarah Schilliger (University of Basle; VPOD Respect Network): Trade-Union Organization of Immigrants in Homecare; Margret Steffen (ver.di federal administration, department on health policy): Framework Conditions of Good Work in Private Households – Political Demands; Miguel Sanz Alcántara (GAS – Grupo de Acción Sindical): The Self-Organization of Spanish Nurses Against Oppressive Contracts; chair: Julia Bringmann (TOP Berlin) TRANSLATION: German/English

A9: Care Chambers – Can They Help Care get off the Ground? — Discussion Platform on a Controversial Issue. With Marika Lazar (Groundlevel Care, MA in health management); Rolf Höfert (managing director of the German Nursing Association – DPV); Dietmar Erdmeier (ver.di, department of healthcare policy); chairpersons: Roger Konrad (Groundlevel Care/Frankfurt, geriatric nurse) and (Member of the Bundestag, speaker on nursing policy issues, parliamentary faction of the Left Party)

13:15–14:30: LUNCH

14:30–16:30: WORKSHOPS (TRACK B)

B1: Small Revolutions?! Trade-Union Organizing Within In- and Out-Patient Geriatric Care — A Discussion on the Possibilities of Collectively Representing the Interests of Nurses — with Mia Lindemann and Michel Zimmer (ver.di, Rhine-Neckar region, trade-union work in the fields of geriatric care and assistance); Iris Nowak (Hamburg Technical University); Stefan Riedel (ver.di, Rhine-Neckar region, former works council member in a retirement home); N.N. (employee representative from the field of outpatient care); chair: Miriam Pieschke (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation)

B2: Provision and Emancipation: Community Health Workers in South Africa Organize Themselves — The Contradictory Role of Volunteer Health Workers and their Significance to a Well-Functioning Public Healthcare System: Report and Discussion with Violet Kaseke (section 27, legal advisor and campaigner) and Anna Genu (co-founder of the South African Care Workers Forum); chair: Anne Jung (medico international) TRANSLATION: German/English

B3: At the Threshold to "Dangerous Care": Staff Shortages and Care Facilities — with Prof. Klaus Stegmüller (Fulda University of Applied Sciences): On the Effects of the Staff Situation in Hospitals; Eva Bockenheimer (University of Siegen): On the Relationship Between Staff Shortages and the Work Ethic of Unrestricted Work Relations; Vera Foullong-Marquardt (ver.di, Emscher-North Lippe district, department of health, social service, welfare and church issues): Report on Actions Addressing Staff Benchmarks in Geriatric Care; chair: Regina Stosch (speaker on healthcare and nursing policy, parliamentary faction of the Left Party)

B4: Germany Exports its Shortage of Nurses: The Care Crisis and Migration — with Carlos Aparcio (GAS – Grupo de acción sindical): The Self-Organization and Resistance of Spanish Careworkers Against Poor Working Conditions; Heino Güllemann (speaker on global health issues, Terre des Hommes): Recruitment Progams as a Response to the Shortage of Nurses?; Pia Zimmermann (Member of the Bundestag, speaker on nursing policy issues, parliamentary faction of the Left Party): The Causes, the Extent and the Consequences of the Shortage of Nurses; chair: N.N.

B5: Writing the Law by Means of Wage Agreements? Strategies for the Legal Regulation of Staff Numbers in Hospitals — with Dana Lützkendorf (ver.di shopfloor group and bargaining committee at Berlin's Charité Hospital): More of us is Better for Everyone! The Outcome of a Unique Labor Struggle; Thomas Böhm (district chairman, ver.di Baden-Württemberg, regional chairman of department on health and social issues): Create Two, Three, Many Charités! How can the Struggle at Charité Hospital be Turned into a Nationwide Collective-Bargaining Firestorm?; Harald Weinberg (Member of the Bundestag, speaker on health policy of the Left Party parliamentary faction): Demands for a Legal Regulation of Staff Numbers in Hospitals and the Preconditions for their Implementation; N.N. (National Union of Healthcare Workers) [unconfirmed]: The Struggle Against a Legally Fixed Nurse-Patient-Ratio in California; chair: Jan Latza TRANSLATION: German/English

B6: Public Services and Infrastructure: Good Services for Everyone, Everywhere! — with Anja Stiedenroth (Left Party, speaker in the Brandenburg Ministry of Healthcare and Social Issues): Strengthening Municipalities as Public-Service Actors; Eva-Maria Krampe (Linksnetz): Healthcare Services as Social Infrastructure; Rainer Possert (Liebenau Center for Community Medicine, Graz): Close to Home and Social – Re-Inventing Healthcare Provision; chair: Barbara Fried (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation)

B7: The Politics of Time: New Strategies for Shorter Working Hours — with Florian Becker (Left Party): Against Permanent Stress and Fear for One's Existence – Towards a new Normal Working Relation; Sybille Stamm (ver.di Stuttgart, board member of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation): "More Time for Loving, Learning, Laughing" – Trade-Union Struggles Over Time; Jutta Meyer-Siebert (Care Revolution Network, 4in1 Perspective, Left Party): Redistributing Work – A Politics of Time for Life in its Entirety; chair: N.N.

B8: Homecare for Children and Adolescents: Experiences, Discussion, Problem-Solving Approaches — What are Common Demands for Good Nursing Conditions? With Corinne Ruser (director of the National Association for Children's Homecare): The Situation of Nursing Services for Children, Parents' Struggles over Welfare Services and Resources; Monika Koelsch (Psychosocial Counselor at Mainz University Clinic, pediatric nurse): Accompanying Families: From In-Patient to Out-Patient Care; Arnold Schnittger (chairman of the Nico's Farm association, nursing father): Carework and the Securing of an Income – Recognizing the Achievements of Nursing Parents; chair: Dörthe Krohn (press spokeswoman of the Association for the Mobility of Persons with Disabilities, nursing mother)

B9: Gender Relations: Why the Care Revolution and Feminism Belong Together — Care Work as a Field for Gender-Political Controversy. With Jette Hausotter (Netzwerk Care Revolution); Julia Dück (iL Berlin); chair: Lea Steinert (Working Group on Reproduction)

17:00–19:00: TAKING CARE-WORK TO THE STREETS – COMMON ACTION

19:00 onward: DINNER AND MUSIC: Songs by the vocal duo LiLo

Sunday, 18 October

10:00–12:00: WORKSHOPS (C TRACK)

C1: Carework: Care Matters! New Pathways for Organizing, New Forms of Protest — with Yvonne Falckner (nurse, Groundlevel Care): Approaching new People Through Low-Threshold Offers; Erica Smiley (Caring Across Generations/Jobs with Justice, USA): Breaking out of Isolation: Making Care Socially Visible; Grit Wolf (healthcare worker and nurse, ver.di shopfloor group at Berlin's Charité Hospital): Trade- Union Innovation on the Shopfloor: Combining Educational Work and Organizing; chair: Iris Nowak (Hamburg Technical University) TRANSLATION: German/English

C2: Funding Models: It's Better to be Solidary: The Citizens' Insurance — with Thomas Gerlinger (lecturer in health sciences at the University of Bielefeld): Myths and Perspectives Within the Healthcate System; Angelika Beier (board member, IG Metall, department of social policy, AOK self-administration/Hesse and member of the board of directors of the GKV umbrella organization): Health Policy and the Question of Funding: An Interim Balance; Kornelia Hagen (German Institute of Economic Studies, DIW): How Policy Holders are Turned Into Consumers: Models of Capital Cover; chair and brief talk: Harald Weinberg (Member of the Bundestag, speaker on health policy issues, parliamentary faction of the Left Party)

C3: Voluntary Work in the Nursing and Healthcare Sectors: Encroachment or Emancipatory Potential? — with Hanna Schuh (Medibüro Berlin – Office for Medical Assistance to Refugees) [unconfirmed]: "We do not Feel Honoured"; Tine Haubner (University of Kassel): Exploitation of Volunteer Care Work in the Care Crisis; Gisela Notz (publicist, Berlin): On the Precarization of "Voluntary" Work; chair: Barbara Fried (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation)

C4: Social Justice and Self-Determination in Carework: Aspirations and Preconditions— with Sebastian Fischer (board member, wir pflegen Association): Against Careworker Poverty and the Overstressing of Family Carers; Pia Zimmermann (Member of the Bundestag, speaker on nursing policy issues, parliamentary faction of the Left Party): Good Carework as a Universal Right; Fabian Müller-Zetzsche (German Social Alliance – SoVD): "Money Is Not Enough for Care" – Dignified Care Requires Appreciation and Good Framework Conditions; chair: N.N.

C5: It can be Done Differently! Healthcare Centers as Sites of Self-Organization and Transformation — networking meeting and interactive workshop with brief talks by Renia Vagkopoulou and Kirsten Schubert (Health Collective, Berlin): presentation of the RLS study, with examples from Greece, Belgium and Austria; Ove Spreckelsen (Polyclinic Group, Hamburg): Setting up a Healthcare Center in Hamburg's Veddel Neighborhood – The WHO's Primary Health Care Model as a Basis?; chair: Anja Dieterich (Yearbook on Critical Medicine and Healthcare Science)

C6: Interest-Representation in Church Facilities — The Church's Distinct Labor Law, Devoid of Co- Determination and the Right to Strike – A Discussion on Strategies for and Approaches to Trade-Union Organizing in the Christian Social Service Providers Diakonie and Caritas. With Berno Schuckart-Witsch (ver.di federal administration, department of health, social service, welfare and church issues); N.N. (employee of Diakonie or Caritas); chair: Fanny Zeise (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation)

C7: Alliances: Pressure Needs to be Built up! On the Politicization of Shopfloor and Wage Conflicts — With Katharina Schwabedissen (trade union secretary, ver.di North-Rhine Westphalia, geriatrics department): Between Responsibility for Myself and Responsibility for Others – Labor Struggles and Forms of Social Resistance; Hagen Klee (Ludwigsburg Clinic): Experiences with the Ultimatum Method in the Stuttgart Region; Julia Dück (Berlin Alliance for Increasing Staff Numbers in Hospitals, IL Berlin): More than Solidarity – Alliance Work and Political Conflicts Within the Labor Struggle at Charité Hospital; (Member of the Bundestag, speaker on patient rights, parliamentary faction of the Left Party): Giving Political Weight to Patients' Interests; chair: Julia Garscha

C8: Assistance: Workshop and Exchange of Experiences — a place for nationwide networking in the field of personal and school assistance, chaired by activists from the Representative Body for the Representation of the Interests of Employees in the Assistance Sector

12:00–13:30: LUNCH AND NETWORKING SPACE

13:30–14:00: UNIFYING PERSPECTIVES Brief talk: Summary of the workshop discussion and open mic

14:00–15:30 CONCLUDING PODIUM

Organizing Care and Health – Struggling for the Common With Sarah Schilliger (University of Basle, Respect Network of the Swiss Association of Public Service Employees – VPOD): "Caring Without Borders" – Overcoming Divisions, Reorganizing Carework; Kalle Kunkel (ver.di Berlin-Brandenburg, department on health and social issues, supervising secretary at Berlin's Charité Hospital): Wage Disputes as Social Conflicts: Alliances, Opportunities and Pitfalls; Sabine Zimmermann (Member of the Bundestag, parliamentary faction of the Left Party, director of the Work Group on Social, Health and Pension Issues): What has to be Possible: Social Infrastructure and Public Services; chair: Julia Dück (IL Berlin) TRANSLATION: German/English

We urge you register in advance at: www.rosalux.de/umcare

Admission is free. The location is largely free of obstacles for persons with disabilities. The building is largely accessible to wheelchair users. Ramps, elevators and a restroom for persons with disabilities are available.

A childcare service is available. Should you require additional support (e.g. a translation into sign language or a personal assistant), please let us know when registering.

A German translation will be available at podiums and workshops during which English is spoken. Of workshops held parallel to one another, at least one will feature an English-German translation.

We are happy to provide you with additional program flyers should you wish to invite other interested persons. Please let us know, stating the number of flyers you require and your postal address.

We very much welcome helpers wishing to support us at the conference (e.g. at the information stand or as personal workshop translators). Please let us know ahead of the conference if possible.

Contact: Hannah Schurian — [email protected] — tel. +49 30-44310-413