In the current warning strikes by the union, not only the retail trade is on strike, but also the wholesale trade. On Wednesday there were strikes lasting two to three hours at branches of food wholesaler Transgourmet and at DM, Interspar and Spar, according to the GPA union. Staff meetings were held at Metro.
The GPA plans further warning strikes and actions for Thursday. The sixth round of negotiations on a new collective labor agreement will start on Friday afternoon. The union has not accepted the employers’ offer of an 8 percent wage increase without social graduation in the fifth round of collective bargaining.
Between 8 and 9.4 percent
The Trade KV concerns the salaries of approximately 430,000 employees and students. It is the largest industry collective labor agreement in Austria. The union is pushing for an increase of 9.4 percent. The rolling inflation rate from October 2022 to September 2023 was 9.2 percent.
There is “advice” for a salary increase
If no agreement is reached between employer and employee representatives in the coming days, the Federal Trade Division of the Chamber of Commerce wants to make a recommendation to companies for “a sustainable salary increase”. Helga Fichtinger, the union’s chief negotiator, criticized that such a policy “does not have any legally binding force and would deliberately cause great damage to a proven system of salary determination based on social partnership.”
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.
