After the third round of collective labor agreement negotiations in the metal sector and the metal industry failed on Friday, the first working meetings started on Monday. Warning strikes are also being prepared. The reason: the employers offered only 2.5 percent and a one-off payment.
As the PRO-GE union announced, around 80 work meetings were planned across Austria on Monday. For example, around 300 employees from elevator manufacturers Schindler, Otis, Kone and TK Elevator gathered at the ÖGB headquarters (see video above).
The primary purpose of these company meetings, as the union announced Friday, was to obtain “precautionary resolutions for industrial action.” In other words: if no agreement is reached during the next collective labor agreement negotiations on November 2, measures will be taken from November 6. Whether these are just warning strikes or longer strikes depends, among other things, on the position of the employers, according to the union.
Many company meetings planned
But numerous company meetings are also planned in the coming days. The union speaks of more than a hundred meetings a day at which similar decisions can be expected. On Monday alone, company meetings took place at Tyrolit, Berndorf, Internorm, Palfinger and Voestalpine Automotive, among others.
On Tuesday, works councils and the trade union will inform employees of Miele, Liebherr, BMW Motoren, Magna-Steyr and Schoeller-Bleckmann about the current state of negotiations between the PRO-GE and GPA trade unions and the Trade Union of the Metal Technology Industry. (FMTI).
The positions were too far apart
The reason for these company meetings was the bumpy progress of the collective labor agreement negotiations to date. Initially, employer representatives canceled negotiations at short notice due to anonymous threats, and subsequent talks were broken off after a short time without results. The positions were too far apart.
The employer representatives of the Trade Union of the Metal Technology Industry (FMTI) stuck with their previous offer on Friday; the employee representatives of the PRO-GE and GPA unions saw this as “no willingness to conduct serious negotiations”. The employers’ side say that the union must also take action. According to FMTI, the sector is currently in a recession.
Employers offered only 2.5 percent more wages
The unions want 11.6 percent more wages for metal workers, the employers’ offer is 2.5 percent and a one-off payment of 1,050 euros. Together with the government’s anti-inflation measures, this could cover inflation, the employers’ side argues.
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.
