According to the article published by Deutsche Welle on the exploitation of foreign nurses, many young women from southern Europe, including Greece, that come to Germany looking for work can often feel exploited – and they have no way to leave.
The article presents the case of a 23-year-old Spanish woman, Maria Sanchez, who arrived in Germany with high hopes of finding work as a trained nurse. She finally managed to find a position – in Berlin.
Now the young Spaniard would like to change her employer. But she signed a contract with the private nursing service, part of which included a clause that Sanchez now finds extremely worrying: If she wants to quit before the two year contract is up, she has to pay 6,600 euros.
Sanchez’ case isn’t unique, the article notes. Secretary of German trade union Ver.di, Kalle Kunkel, said to DW that he currently knows of more than 100 employees from Spain, Greece and Portugal who feel trapped by these kinds of contracts. In some companies, nurses are even threatened with contractual penalties of up to 10,000 euros.

A political scandal

According to Kunkel, “That’s exploitation of human resources, and it’s making the nursing profession, and certainly the option of moving to Germany, much less attractive.”
And this at a time when the demand for foreign nurses is extremely high in Germany. There are about 30,000 vacancies in the country while industry representatives warn there will be a shortage of 220,000 skilled workers in the sector by the end of the decade.
Tough contracts aren’t the only concern, the article notes. According to Kunkel, poor working conditions are also a major complaint, with nurses sharing their experiences on Internet forums. Some, for example, reported that they had told to use fewer diapers in order to save money or that wounds on heavier patients were being ignored.