New salary rates agreed in commerce

Under an agreement concluded in November 1998, actual salaries in the Austrian commerce sector will rise by slightly more than 2% from the beginning of 1999. However, the ambitious goals proclaimed previously - harmonisation of existing agreements and unification of pay scales - have not made any progress.

On 16 November 1998, the Union of Salaried Employees (Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten, GPA) and the Austrian Chamber of the Economy (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKÖ) agreed to raise minimum salaries in commerce by 2.2%, effective from 1 January 1999. There are approximately 350,000 salaried employees in commerce, more than 10% of all Austrian employment. As in previous years, the 2.2% rise applies only to pay table (a) and to seven of the nine provinces (AT9712150F). Table (a) is one of eight "tables" or scales of job grades and associated pay levels, agreed by the social partners in commerce, that are renegotiated every autumn. Table (a) is the lowest, and, because it applies to the greatest number of workers in the sector, acts as a benchmark for the rest.

The other two provinces and five of the other seven tables will see marginally lower increases, because the absolute cash increase awarded under table (a) will be also awarded to them rather than the percentage rise. This is at the behest of the GPA, which wants to whittle away at the relative differentials between table (a) and the rest (which the award of an absolute rather than a percentage increase achieves).

Two other pay tables - one for tobacconists and the other for department stores - have yet to be negotiated. The employers want the latter abolished, as it is 13% above table (a). Furthermore, the absolute gap between minimum pay rates as set in the tables and actual pay will remain constant. As a result the overall average increase in actual salaries will be 2.0% or just slightly more. This is still better than the 1.7% for 1998. Inflation is running at about 1% in 1998 and is expected to stay the same in 1999.

Negotiations had started on 15 October 1998 with the GPA demanding 4.5% and 0.7% being offered by the employers. However, by the beginning of November, owing to the intervention of other issues, there had been virtually no progress. The GPA wanted a commitment to a phased reduction in working time from 38.5 hours per week to 35 on full pay. On this point, the employers remained intransigent. The same fate awaited the plan to set minimum working time at four hours per day, as laid down for tourism (AT9705111F), in a bid to avoid employment outside full social security coverage. As they were dependent on the working time issue, there was no progress at all on harmonising the five parallel sectoral agreements (AT9712150F). Neither was there progress on unifying the eight pay tables. Although discussions are continuing, the earlier optimism about a settlement appears to have dissipated.