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RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG, Bad Neustadt/Saale /
Krankenhaus St. Barbara Attendorn GmbH:

Strike called off after three and a half hours of negotiation


Bad Neustadt a.d. Saale/Attendorn, 26 May 2002. ----- On Friday, 24 May
2002,
after three and a half hours of negotiation, the collective bargainers
came to
an understanding on the basis of the inhouse collective bargaining
agreement
proposed by Rhön-Klinikum AG for Krankenhaus St. Barbara Attendorn.
Following
signature of the bargaining counts, the strike measures were called off.
While
the negotiated agreement has already been accepted by the Wages Council who
represents the employee side, the usual ballot vote is still pending as is
the
final approval by the Board of Management of Rhön-Klinikum AG (RKA) on the
owner/employer side. Subject to these formalities, the strike measures at
Krankenhaus St. Barbara Attendorn, which obviously served some political
ends of
 certain labour circles, were called off.

This strike, the first at a Rhön-Klinikum hospital, lasted more than six
weeks.
Notably, only about 34 of the hospital s around 430 employees had gone on
strike. During the dispute, the labour union, ver.di, stated publicly
that, by
adhering to public services wage structures, it aims at preventing hospital
privatisation in general and take-overs by Rhön-Klinikum AG, in particular.
Moreover, in a circular sent out to all its offices, ver.di recommends to
use
the strike in Attendorn for agitation purposes. Consequentially, ver.di s
office
 in Villingen-Schwenningen (South Germany) addressed a letter to relevant
politicians and mandatories in order to disqualify Rhön-Klinikum AG from
potential hospital take-overs. This makes clear that the labour dispute
was a
political strike, principally motivated by unionist hard-core thinking,
which
Rhön-Klinikum AG could not tolerate for overriding reasons, as the Group s
basis
 of success would have been jeopardized had the unionist intention won
through.


The negotiated wage agreement enables the hospital to embark upon the
necessary
restructuring measures which it will pursue vigorously without prejudice
to its
employees  social interests. The implementation of the Rhön-Klinikum
concept
will now no longer be hindered by wage discussions with the labour union.
With
regard to future hospital take-overs, the Board of Management of
Rhön-Klinikum
AG hopes that the agreement reached in Attendorn will lay the foundation
for a
forward-looking, constructive co-operation with ver.di and that this co-
operation will in future be unimpaired by ideological hostilities.

The settlement of the wage dispute has also meant a decisive step towards
eliminating the negative factors that have weighed on the Group s 2002
first
quarter results.


end of message, (c)DGAP 26.05.2002