Charité kitchen worker Agnieszka Jastrzębska on why striking pays off

Agnieszka Jastrzębska, a kitchen assistant at CFM Charité, became known to a wider audience after speaking at Republica 26. In spring 2025, she emerged as a face of the strike at Berlin's Charité hospital and its subsidiary CFM. At the riot now festival in Stuttgart's Literaturhaus in early May, Freitag editor Ebru Taşdemir moderated a discussion between Jastrzębska and Irina Vavitsa, an IG Metall activist since the 1970s, about their strike experiences and the importance of collective action for social justice. Jastrzębska has worked in the kitchen for ten years, portioning food onto plates and ensuring their cleanliness.