Strikes in Upper Austria and Stmk – Christmas peace in retail is still far away

“A phase of cooling down, of reflection, of introspection is certainly recommended,” said employer-chief negotiator Rainer Trefelik on Monday in the Ö1 “Morgenjournal” about the break in the negotiations. It is reflected in the social hierarchy. The union recently proposed a staggered salary agreement between 8.58 and 9.38 percent.

“It’s cosmetics”
However, according to WKO trade chairman Trefelik, this would mean that more than 80 percent of employees would receive an increase above advancing inflation. “This is not a social scale to be paid by companies, but rather cosmetic,” the employer’s chief negotiator criticized on ORF radio. “If I write down a figure in a salary group where there are only 0.2 percent of employees left, which is below the union ideal, things become difficult.”

As a result of the failed negotiations, the Federal Trade Department of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKO) now recommends its member companies to voluntarily increase collective minimum wages by eight percent. “This is an important signal to employees that they are not floating in a vacuum,” says Trefelik. A later higher degree can then still be followed.

A recommendation offers “no legal certainty,” criticized Helga Fichtinger, the union’s chief negotiator. “Trade would then be virtually destroyed, because every entrepreneur can do whatever he wants,” she warned. “That means this step must be carefully considered. It will be difficult for the federal Commerce Department to capture this.”

Strikes in Graz and Ansfelden
After the KV contract negotiations for the industry failed again, new employee protests broke out on Monday morning in the last shopping week before Christmas. According to the union, there were strikes from 7:30 am at the Shopping Nord shopping center in Graz and at the Ansfelden industrial estate near Linz in Upper Austria.

In Ansfelden, employees of supermarket chains in particular stopped work for about two hours and stood in front of the partially closed entrance doors. Shortly after 8 a.m., Markus Parzer, works council chairman of Billa and Billa plus in Upper Austria, asked a young woman for understanding that she could currently only go shopping in that branch on the industrial estate from 9:30 a.m. “During Corona we received applause because we worked. “Now we are forgotten,” he said, explaining why people still take to the streets before Christmas for a fair wage.

Warning strike in freezing temperatures
The thick fog that crept under your skin at zero degrees did not stop five women from unrolling a banner in front of a drugstore chain in the morning: “We are fighting for our health insurance,” it said. Only the hairdresser in the store is open because it is a service provider, an employee explains. To make her demand heard, she blew a whistle.

The staff of ten shops in the north of Graz went on strike on Monday morning. In the North Shopping Center, posters hung in front of a branch of a supermarket chain with the text “There is a strike here!” However, initially there was not much attention to the strike, as employees were sorting fruit and sorting boxes. Shortly after 8 a.m., some staff members went outside with a banner and shouted: “We want our percentages!”

“Feel free to come inside”
The warning strike took place from 7:40 am to 9:00 am, but the store was open. Customers came and went, paying at the self-service checkouts or, as usual, at the employee checkouts. Christian Jammerbund of the union explained that in such cases the employer assigns staff from other branches to the striking branch. As a result, customers hardly noticed any difference. After looking at the posters, some stopped at the entrance and asked the staff. An employee said, “You can go in.” This was immediately accepted by the customers.

After the core staff company meeting, they went to the mall. There, whistles were used to call for a higher collective labor agreement: ‘We want what we are entitled to.’ The banner read ‘We are fighting for our collective labor agreement.’ The commercial KV concerns the salaries of 430,000 employees and 15,000 students. It is the largest industrial KV in Austria.