In Germany, the situation in the care sector is already dramatic, and it is unlikely to get better. Therefore, they decide to go to neighboring Luxembourg.
Eight o’clock in the morning. Somaeh Metzger knocks on Mrs. Pennig-Chaussy’s door and enters.
“Good morning. How are you?” says the nurse.
“Gudde Moien,” she replies. Marie Josée Pennig-Chaussy is 94 years old and has been living in the nursing home “Op Lamp” in Wasserbillig, Luxembourg for six years. Somaeh Metzger is 50 years younger. The usual procedure begins, for which he has a good half hour at his disposal.
Somaeh Metzger dresses Ms. Pennig-Chaussy, helps her out of bed, places her in a wheelchair and takes her to the bathroom. After ten minutes they return to the room. Mrs. Pennig-Chaussy cares about applying the lipstick herself, even if the carer helps her by holding her already trembling hand. They discuss the old lady’s former stage career – sometimes in German, sometimes in Luxembourgish, all peppered with phrases in French.
Incomparably better than in Germany
Almost 20 years ago, Somaeh Metzger decided to quit her job at a German nursing home and go to work in neighboring Luxembourg. She learned Luxembourgish on a course organized by her employer. From her home in Trier, Germany, where she lives with her family, to her workplace is 13 kilometers, which takes her barely twenty minutes.
“I haven’t regretted my decision for a second,” says Metzger.
She is by no means the only one who goes to work in neighboring Luxembourg from Germany. According to the country’s National Institute of Statistics, more than 52,000 Germans work in the small country – 30 percent more than a decade ago. The vast majority of them still live in Germany and commute to work. In the health and social care sector alone, 6,300 Germans are registered, and among them are at least 4,000 carers like Somaeh Metzger.
This can also be seen in her workplace: over 80 percent of the 147 employees in the nursing home “Op Lamp” are Germans who care for the 81 residents of the home.
“We are not specifically looking for caregivers from Germany,” says director Mireille Wirtz-Lenertz. But word spread in the border region that working conditions in Luxembourg were much better than in Germany. There are almost no overtime hours, more staff in care, employees are respected, and the salary is almost twice as high.
“I earn more in Luxembourg working 60% than I would in Germany if I worked full time,” says Metzger.
“In Germany, I took care of nine or even ten elderly people, here I am in charge of five of them,” says the carer.
They are also worried in Luxembourg
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, with its 670,000 inhabitants, recently increased the salaries of employees in the care of the elderly and the sick. With ten years of service, a caregiver in a nursing home earns around 65,000 euros per year – plus bonuses, while a nurse can earn around 100,000 euros.
Luxembourg is apparently ready to pay caregivers even better because the population there is also getting older. According to the assessment of the association of caregivers Copas, in the next five years it will be necessary to fill 4,000 jobs in the care sector, including 900 nurses, and there are also other employees: from physiotherapists to kitchen assistants. But in Luxembourg, only slightly more than 100 caregivers complete their training each year. Already about 50 percent of nurses come from neighboring countries. The manager of a Luxembourg nursing home, Wirtz-Lenertz, fears that it will become more difficult to find caregivers from Germany in the coming years.
“Salaries are rising there as well,” she says, but she trusts in better working conditions, lower taxes and ultimately better pensions in Luxembourg.
Disaster in Germany
At the same time, it is a disaster for nursing homes and hospitals on the other, German side of the border. From the Barmherzige Brüder Hospital in Trier alone, 25 to 30 nurses go to Luxembourg every year, says Jörg Mogendorf, director of the nursing department of the hospital:
“That trend is picking up again.”
He says that they try to keep staff with salary increases and various benefits, but people keep leaving.
And the Chamber of Employees in the care sector of the state of Rheinland-Pfalz testifies that the situation “has by no means improved, on the contrary: it has become even worse”.
Its president, Markus Mai, thinks little can be done against excellent wages in neighboring countries:
“The only thing that can be done is to generally increase the number of employees of that sector in the affected regions. But our Chamber, as a state institution, has little influence or ability to shape the situation.”
I’m not coming back!
For Somaeh Metzger, it is out of the question to ever work in his homeland again:
“In Germany I was responsible for nine or ten elderly people in one shift, I often worked 15 days in a row. In Luxembourg I have five people I care for.” She does not believe that anything will change there. In Luxembourg, the employer respects her wishes when organizing the schedule. Somaeh Metzger is extremely satisfied:
“I can balance my work and private life without difficulty. It is also a preventive measure against bad mood and stress.”
And there is more and more of that in Germany, not only in the care sector.
(Vijesti.ba / Deutsche Welle)
