Collective bargaining in the private health, healthcare and social sectors starts this Tuesday. The KV applies to approximately 130,000 employees, more than 70 percent of whom are women. The employers expect “tough but fair” negotiations.
“Not everything in our industry is as bad as some people want to make it seem,” says Walter Marschitz of the Austrian Employers’ Association for the Social Economy (SWÖ). Wage growth was 4.26 percent over a three-year average from 2021 to 2023, which is almost identical to deals in the metals industry (4.3 percent) and higher than in retail (3.68 percent). Last year the SWÖ rate was 10.2 percent.
The minimum wage in the social economy is currently 1,893.20 euros. Marschitz announced that this could be increased to more than 2,000 euros. The unions’ chief negotiators, Eva Scherz (GPA) and Michaela Guglberger (vida), were less forgiving. The most recent achievements were by no means given away freely, “but had to be wrested from employers through demonstrations and strikes.”
Attractiveness against staff shortages
“The enormous labor shortage can only be combated by making the sector more attractive. If employers now brag about salary increases and 37-hour work weeks, these were union achievements that employers opposed in every negotiation,” Giglberger said.
Scherz also criticized the federal government for the “failed healthcare subsidy or aid week”, as well as the outstanding healthcare reforms, the non-increased mileage reimbursement and the excessive bureaucracy, among other things.
More than 70 percent of women work in the sector, the majority part-time. Three negotiation days have been provisionally set for the new collective labor agreement: October 17, November 15 and 27.
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.
