Unions' harmonisation demands may face parliamentary opposition

Over September-October 1999, further efforts have been made by Austria's ÖGB trade union confederation to seek harmonisation of the treatment of blue- and white-collar workers in employment law. This long-running struggle is now entering a new round of debate in the new Austrian parliament.

On 27 September 1999, at a joint press conference, the Fritz Verzetnitsch president of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB) and Heinz Fischer, the first president of the Austrian parliament and a high-ranking representative of the Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ), announced that the ÖGB-led "Aktion Fairness" campaign would be pursued in parliament. This programme is aimed at harmonising the treatment in employment law of blue- and white-collar workers: the legal protection given to the two categories differs in areas such as compensation during sick leave and regulations governing dismissal. A parliamentary initiative on this issue is to be one of the SPÖ's first activities in parliament following the October general election.

According to recent calculations by the Chamber of Labour (Bundesarbeitskammer Österreichs, BAK) and ÖGB, the costs to business linked to harmonisation would amount to ATS 1 billion. Therefore, ÖGB proposed a reduction of employers' non-wage labour costs by about ATS 500 million. This has been rejected by the Chamber of the Economy (Wirtschaftskammer Österreichs, WKÖ), which fears additional costs of about ATS 10 billion. WKÖhas taken the view that businesses should be compensated for associated costs by a reduction of holiday payments, and the abolition of both some public holidays and of sick pay during the first three days of absence (AT9906153N). This standpoint is regarded as unacceptable by ÖGB, since it would mean a general deterioration of employment conditions for all employees. Additionally, it is estimated by ÖGB that implementing WKÖ's demands could cost Austrian employees, blue- and white-collar alike, some ATS 6 billion-ATS 7 billion annually: cuts in holiday payments could mean a loss of income of some ATS 3 billion-ATS 5 billion; with the loss of income from the proposed cuts in sick pay, along with some other minor changes, accounting for the rest of the sum. So far, there has been no perceptible movement in the standpoints of ÖGB and WKÖ.

ÖGB's numerous actions on the harmonisation issue over the summer (AT9909166N) were partly linked to the SPÖ's election campaign. The situation for SPÖand the affiliated ÖGB has been made rather worse after the national election on 3 October. The SPÖ's vote fell by nearly 5%, while the populist Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei, FP) made advances and the conservative People's Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP) lost support. The election has left a confused political landscape, as the SPÖ is unwilling to cooperate with the FP, and the ÖVP, formerly in coalition with the SPÖ, has announced that it will enter opposition as consequence of its losses. Negotiations on the harmonisation issue between the ÖVP and SPÖ have thus been interrupted.

Despite the fact that harmonisation was included in the 1996 SPÖ/ÖVP coalition agreement, a compromise proved impossible to reach during the term of the government. A bill accepted by ÖGB was rejected by WKÖ in autumn 1998 and a government bill failed in June 1999 (AT9906153N). The new parliamentary initiative on this disputed issue planned for the autumn 1999 session might therefore face severe problems, as did a parliamentary attempt earlier in the year.