The second round of collective labor agreement negotiations for employees in the private health, care and social sectors ended without a result on Wednesday evening. The GPA and Vida unions continue to demand an increase of 15 percent or at least 400 euros, while employers stuck to their offer of 8.8 percent.
A national works council conference is now planned for November 20 to discuss the next steps. “These can also be company meetings with preventive strike resolutions,” says the negotiator of the GPA union, Eva Scherz. The social economy pays 22 percent less than the average for all sectors. Simply compensating for inflation will not reduce this gap, says Michaela Guglberger of the vida union.
Higher wages to combat staff shortages
‘If we want to reduce the urgent shortage of personnel, the sector must become more attractive.’ ‘We will not be blinded by glossing over the sector’s problems, nor will we be irritated by significantly worse offers from other industries (…). .),” the unions said.
Employers: Can also negotiate on other topics
Employer representatives see it differently. The director of the Austrian Social Economy (SWÖ), Walter Marschitz, pointed out that the 8.8 percent offer was above the moving inflation rate for the period September 2022 to October 2023. However, it amounts to only 0.1 percentage points.
“We are ready to talk on certain points and also to negotiate on other issues, but everything must remain within a realistic framework. We must approach any additional measure with a sense of proportion and, if necessary, evaluate it in monetary terms,” the report said.
It was agreed that more employees whose work justifies it would receive the healthcare subsidy. This is particularly relevant in the disability sector, as almost half of workers here would “overlook” the care subsidy.
Next round on November 27
The third and final regularly scheduled round of negotiations is scheduled for November 27. “We hope to complete the third round of negotiations so that the collective labor agreement can enter into force on January 1, 2024,” Marschitz said in a broadcast. About 130,000 people work in the sector.
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.
