Train traffic in Austria has come to a standstill from midnight and railway workers are on strike for 24 hours on Monday. The reason for the strike is failed KV negotiations, which failed on Sunday at the fifth attempt. At ÖBB, enthusiasm about the procedure is limited: “I have no understanding for this strike,” says ÖBB boss Andreas Matthä.
“The employer side made the highest bid of all sectors with 8.44 percent,” confirmed the ÖBB boss. “It is clearly a deliberate strike by the union. It pains me that our passengers are affected in such a way.’ Like the negotiators on both sides, Matthä apologized to the affected passengers. “ÖBB will make every effort to resume operations as soon as possible.”
At the same time, ÖBB asked passengers to postpone non-essential travel or choose alternative travel options. From Sunday evening or until Tuesday morning there may be disruptions on the Nightjet and EuroNight connections. Up-to-date information for passengers is available online.
Westbahn “shaken”
The largely privately owned Westbahn was “appalled that the strike was not prevented”. She immediately used the events to make a demand: “A fundamental condition to avoid such unsustainable situations in the future is the unbundling of infrastructure and passenger transport.”
The infrastructure – which in Austria is owned by the state ÖBB and used by the Westbahn – must remain in state hands. However, it should be possible to maintain the operation for passengers, even if the social partners negotiate hard: “Infrastructure provision by a public authority, independent of the ÖBB, can solve situations such as those train passengers have to prepare for tomorrow.” avoided in the future,” said Westbahn managers Thomas Posch and Florian Kazalek on Sunday.
Pointing the finger to each other
Representatives of employers and employees blame each other for the failure of the negotiations. The employee representatives of the vida union had recently demanded 400 euros more on all KV and actual wages for the railway workers. According to the union, that would be an average of twelve percent plus – that would clearly rise above the current other degrees for metalworkers or civil servants. In the meantime, employers even spoke of 13.3 percent, which would mean the requirement of 400 euros – and that is too high for them.
They said they had made the best offer in the previous fall salary round: “We offered an average of eight percent,” explains Thomas Scheiber, chief negotiator for employers. In addition, the companies were also prepared to pay a one-off payment of 1,000 euros to all employees in December as a “bonus on the cost of living”. According to the vida bond, the offer has recently been increased by eight euros. “Eight euros will not prevent a warning strike,” said Gerhard Tauchner, deputy chairman of the railway division of the vida union and head of the negotiating team of vida-KV.
Standstill – then new discussions
So the standstill on Monday is fixed: only buses and municipal transport companies are running, but no regional, long-distance and night trains or S-Bahn. Discussions could then continue at expert level from Tuesday.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
