After the failure of wage negotiations, metalworkers across Austria are going on a warning strike: work will be at least temporarily halted in around 100 Styrian companies until Wednesday. The start took place on Monday in Western Styria.
“The employees fully understand this measure, because people’s wallets are burning,” Hermann Edler of the production union PRO-GE told “Krone” after the visit to IAF Industrieanlagentechnik in Frauental. At six o’clock in the morning there was a warning strike, which was joined by all twenty employees.
“Standing out is not fun”
“People need more money to live. Employees always pay advance payments, we then negotiate retroactively, while the entrepreneurs have already paid out their profits,” Edler explains. Warning strikes of up to three hours will be held in around 100 companies in the metal technology industry in Styria until Wednesday. As Edler emphasizes, strikes are the last resort. “Strikes are not fun and are not the main purpose of the union; rather, it is a last resort and a sign to employers that our demands did not just appear out of the blue.”
Monday morning was the day at the Wolfram mine and Hütten AG in St. Martin im Sulmtal. Norbert Schunko, director of GPA Steiermark, gathered the staff there for a factory meeting, which then culminated in a warning strike that lasted about 90 minutes. “We have an inflation of ten percent and there are only random offers,” grumbles Schunko. “In my opinion, this is a shame for the sector. In other areas, such as breweries, a deal was very possible.”
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.
