Union Sour – Doskozil’s cross shots cross “red lines”

“Governor Hans Peter Doskozil is crossing a red line with his demand for the abolition of self-management of social health insurance,” FSG chief Rainer Wimmer told APA.

“We employees want health insurance for us, our families and retirees where the employees themselves determine how the premiums they pay are spent. This is neither a matter for the Chamber of Commerce nor for the provincial governors,” was the sharp reply of the top red trade unionist.

System tried and tested for decades
Social security is “an essential core element of the Austrian welfare state and a central achievement of the labor movement,” Wimmer said, angry at the proposal from his own ranks. The organization of social insurance in the form of self-government has proven itself for decades and ensures independence from state administration or political desires – “whether at the federal or state level”.

Sommerloch not suitable for “sensitive areas”.
The ÖGK is currently suffering the consequences of the turquoise-blue social security reform. Wimmer pinpoints “external determination by Chamber of Commerce officials, far and wide no patient billion and no uniform level of performance”. The aim of the SPÖ union is therefore to restore true self-government in social security in order to subsequently be able to make health policy again in the interests of the employees.

“What no one needs is more ill-considered political intervention – especially not when the plan is to completely expropriate workers. Less sensitive topics are better suited for excited debates about the summer malaise,” Wimmer said to Doskozil.