An agreement is to be provided for in the collective labor agreement negotiations for railway workers. Talks began Monday afternoon and are expected to continue on Tuesday. Two weeks ago, the union held a warning strike.
According to employers’ circles, there were already “constructive” talks last week to explore the negotiating space. “The mood is positive and constructive,” says Thomas Scheiber, director of Innsbrucker Verkehrsbetriebe and Stubaitalbahn, on the employers’ side. Both these and the employees would have calculated their positions. In concrete terms, there will now be a two-year collective labor agreement that provides for several increases.
Union: Raise middle and lower wages
Most recently, the Vida union had demanded a wage increase from the KV and the actual wage by 400 euros. This corresponds to an average increase of 12 percent. “The most important thing is to raise the middle and lower wages,” said Gerhard Tauchner, ÖBB’s central works council and head of negotiations for the railway workers. With this, it would still impale itself at the moment. The employers recently offered an increase of 8.4 percent or a minimum increase of 208 euros. According to the union, that will “certainly not be enough”.
Multiple different contracts
You should have come closer on Monday night. “The negotiations have not failed, they have only been postponed. These are detailed solutions,” says Scheiber. He sees a challenge in the different service contracts that would apply depending on the starting date. In addition, there would be special contracts for catering in the train and for wagons. A flat-rate distribution of the money would may place workers at a disadvantage here.
The union left open whether there would be further strikes if negotiations failed at the last minute. If so, these are planned with great care so as not to disrupt Christmas traffic.
Source: Krone
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