The chairman of the Austrian Trade Union Confederation (ÖGB), Wolfgang Katzian, is calling for a “sustainable increase in real wages” for the upcoming wage round in the autumn. According to Katzian, sustainable means embedding this in the collective labor agreements and not making one-off payments. The basis should be the “moving inflation over the past twelve months”. A negotiation basis below this value is not conceivable for one sub-union.
One-off payments, considered tax-free by the economy, if the Treasury Secretary were to step in, would have a major “blemish,” Katzian said in the Ö1 “Mittagsjournal” on Saturday: “Once and then nothing more. That can never be a substitute (for the procedure through the KV, mind you), because the prices remain high. I need commercial degrees that are sustainable.”
According to estimates, the average annual inflation rate for the upcoming pension adjustment is likely to be 5.8 percent. Most recently (in July), inflation was 9.2 percent, according to Statistics Austria.
Wage increases follow price increases
Katzian described it as “humbug” as the employer side argued over an impending wage-price spiral. Wage increases would follow price increases, not the other way around. Based on the average inflation of the past twelve months – usually settled in a first round of negotiations – it is then a question of growth in the sectors, productivity development and unit labor costs, according to the top trade unionist.
“When the unionist walks across the room, the predictions are never correct,” Katzian said, pointing out that the economy warned of a slowdown in the economy. That is the case every year. “Sometime in August”, ie before the leading Metaller-KV negotiations start in September, the employers would be painting dark clouds in the previously sunny economic sky, according to the trade unionist.
Focus more on the money
Working hours are and will remain an issue. There has been no statutory reduction in working hours for too long, the last major one being the 40-hour working week. According to Katzian, there are many developments and preconditions that make shortening necessary. Many collective labor agreements now contain shorter working hours. This year, due to extreme inflation, “it will probably be more about money”, the ÖGB boss said, “without wanting to anticipate”.
Source: Krone
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