The fifth round of trade talks on a new collective bargaining agreement has been going on all day – an agreement seems a long way off. According to reports, there was rapprochement on Tuesday evening, but if negotiations fail, a labor dispute with warning strikes threatens in the middle of Advent. If no agreement is reached, store employees will stop working on the Friday and the second shopping Saturday before Christmas.
In more than 300 companies there are strike decisions from the local work meetings, according to the union. Think of large retail chains – also from the food industry -, textile chains, booksellers, wholesalers and hardware stores. “Should negotiations break down today, work meetings could be held at any time, which would then turn into warning strikes,” union leader Helga Fichtinger told the APA on Tuesday. Unlike a strike, a warning strike is limited in time.
“Employers have to move”
Initially, only companies with a works council would be included. But the right to strike also offers opportunities for employees of trading companies without a works council. “The strike can only be averted if the employers’ side actually moves today,” Fichtinger clarifies.
The union is demanding a salary increase of 8.5 percent with a minimum of 200 euros, so that the lowest salary levels receive a double-digit increase. The employers propose a tax-free bonus, which will largely be paid to employees this year, and offer a 5 percent increase on the collectively agreed minimum wage.
One-time payment as a bone of contention
The employee representatives reject one-off payments and want a decent salary increase given the high inflation. “If the one-off payment does not come off the table, today’s negotiations will be very short,” trade unionist Fichtinger announced in advance.
“Don’t just go on strike”
Chief employer negotiator Rainer Trefelik was optimistic that the union would not want to strike “just like that”. “A warning strike is a situation that no one wants, that no one wants. We are coming out of a very difficult situation in the retail sector,” says Trefelik, referring to the many lockdowns over the past two years. The union’s current demand is even higher than the 10 percent wage increase initially demanded. “8.5 percent and a minimum amount, which is 11.1 percent,” the representative calculated.
“It cannot be à la longue that you expect a little more with every round. Otherwise after 20 laps you will be somewhere around 15 percent. This is mathematically not possible for the trade,” says Trefelik. The profitability in the trade is significantly lower than, for example, with the masons.
Largest collective agreement in Austria
The Handels-KV is one of the largest collective agreements in Austria and affects approximately 430,000 employees and apprentices in the retail, wholesale and car trade. 70 percent of all retail workers are women. More than a third of them work part-time. “Just hailed as crisis heroes, the inflationary crisis is now hitting them with full force. The ÖGB women therefore express their full support for a fair KV degree in the retail sector,” ÖGB Women’s President Korinna Schumann said in a broadcast on 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.
