We work twice as productively and produce more and more in less time. “Everyone should benefit from our advances in productivity,” demands Barbara Blaha, founder and head of the union-affiliated Momentum Institute. In the live talk with moderator Conny Winiwarter, she suggests that employers should accept falling profits – in order to fund short-time work for employees. And rightly so, because “the employees have been paying advances for years”.
There has been no reduction in working hours for 40 years. And this despite the fact that “numerous empirical studies prove that working too much makes you sick”. The risk of occupational accidents is also increasing. “We need to take the next step in working time,” demands Blaha – and wants to finance the reduction of working hours through the companies. Other countries would show how it works: France, Iceland, Spain & Co. are implementing similar models or are currently starting pilot projects.
85 percent of employees’ tax revenue
Blaha does not like the SPÖ’s proposed model. This stipulates that people do 80 percent of their previous work – at 95 percent pay. The 15 percent difference would be funded by corporate, AMS and government grants, with the remaining five percent paid by the employee. Blaha: “Of the 100 tax euros, 85 euros come from the employees.” So if the state pays the difference, “we pay even more for the short-time work ourselves”.
“ÖVP leaves women with care tasks alone”
Austria is the country with the most part-time workers. The reason: Two-thirds of these people have care obligations — such as children or family members who need care. Women are particularly affected. The demand for expansion of national childcare is not new. Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) announced this in his ‘Speech on the Future of the Nation’. Will that really work? “I hope so,” says Blaha skeptically, “until now the ÖVP has always left women alone with care tasks.”
You can see the whole video with Barbara Blaha in the video above. New episodes of krone.tv INQUIRIES are available Monday through Friday at 9:30am.
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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.
