After the KV negotiations in the retail sector failed again, new employee protests broke out on Monday morning, partly in public spaces. From 7:30 am, strikes will be carried out in Centrum West in Graz and in the Ansfelden industrial estate (Upper Austria). The GPA trade union announced this on Sunday. In Graz there are also activities on Wienerstrasse and Weinzöttlstrasse in the morning.
Christmas peace in the very diverse sectors has been far away since Saturday evening. Because the sixth round of negotiations on the new commercial employee collective labor agreement ended without results. The union and the Chamber of Commerce failed to reach a conclusion in a marathon negotiation that lasted nearly ten hours. There is no new date for the interview.
“Nothing is affordable anymore”
WKÖ trade chairman Rainer Trefelik said after the negotiations broke down that they had failed due to the “economic preconditions”. “We have calculated a wide variety of options,” says Trefelik. A salary increase of 8.2 percent would have been ‘thinkable’, more was ‘unaffordable’ for the companies. The rolling inflation rate from October 2022 to September 2023 was 9.2 percent.
Helga Fichtinger, the union’s chief negotiator, criticized the employers’ “delaying tactics”. “That’s not fair.” According to its own information, the union has proposed a social salary between 8.58 and 9.38 percent. That would mean an average salary increase of 8.96 percent. An opening clause for companies in economic difficulties was apparently also on the table. According to the union, employers only offered a wage increase of 8 percent plus 10 euros.
Union wants to go to ‘higher level’
Trade unionist Fichtinger is now pushing for talks at a “higher level”, for example between ÖGB boss Wolfgang Katzian and chairman of the Economic Chamber, Harald Mahrer. There is no new round of KV negotiations scheduled for next week. Meanwhile, the GPA has also announced new warning actions and meetings for next week.
As a result of the failed negotiations, WKÖ’s federal trade department now recommends that its member companies voluntarily increase collective minimum wages by 8 percent. The trade organization supports this. A recommendation offers “no legal certainty,” Fichtinger criticized.
Warning strikes in the Christmas business
The KV talks have been going on since late October and were accompanied by company meetings, public rallies and warning strikes over the Christmas period. The union entered into negotiations and demanded an 11 percent wage increase. The employers only made their opening offer in the third round with a five percent increase and a one-off payment of 800 euros.
The commercial KV concerns the salaries of 430,000 employees and 15,000 students. It is the largest industry collective labor agreement in Austria. Nearly two-thirds of the 430,000 employees are women; in retail, the share of women is even higher. Nearly 60 percent of women in retail work part-time, while the part-time rate for men is only about 13 percent.
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.
