Largest union seeks new political strategy

As a reaction to the changing political and social situation in Austria since the current conservative-populist coalition government took office in February 2000, the Union of Salaried Employees (GPA) - the largest affiliate of the ÖGB confederation - drew up a notable draft paper on new strategic principles in April 2002. This document, which will be submitted to GPA's general assembly in autumn 2002, suggests a more combative approach for the union. It may be indicative of the unions' future political and strategic orientations as, for the first time since the late 1980s, the performance of Austria's traditional system of social partnership is being questioned strongly from the union side

Austria is well known for its high-developed and, in terms of political and social stability, effective social partnership system, whereby distinct 'corporatist' structures have hitherto shaped socio-economic policy. However, since the coalition government of the populist Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) and the conservative People's Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP) came to power in February 2000 (AT0002212F), the traditional consensual atmosphere of public policy-making has been greatly disrupted. In particular, organised labour has been forced onto the defensive by the government's policy of limiting social partnership (AT0109201F). Thus, political tensions between the coalition government and the trade unions have continually increased.

In the face of the unions' loss of influence in policy-making due to the approach taken by the coalition government, the Union of Salaried Employees (Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten, GPA), which is the largest affiliate of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB) with about 286,000 members (in December 2000), has found itself compelled to redefine its own political role and functions. As a consequence, GPA decided to initiate an internal debate on principles, the results of which were produced in April 2002 in form of an 'off-the-record' draft paper and are expected to be accepted by the GPA general assembly (Bundesforum) scheduled for October 2002.

New 'class conflict' rhetoric

The GPA paper, entitled Thesis for the new political positioning of GPA (Thesen für die neue politische Positionierung der GPA) emphasises the need for unionisation among increasingly individualised workers in a coming 'post-corporatist' era and – to the surprise of many – connects this with a left-wing criticism of the existing system of social partnership. In this respect, the paper takes up an old tradition, whereby the chair of GPA in the 1980s, and former minister for social affairs, Alfred Dallinger, on numerous occasions threatened the union's withdrawal from the corporatist model of social partnership in the event of conflicts with the employers. Under the new circumstances of a restrictive social and employment policy on the one hand and a perceived systematic disregard for, or even attacks on, organised labour on the other hand by the populist-conservative coalition government, the GPA representatives appear to have 'rediscovered the working class' as an active player in industrial relations.

Interestingly, the GPA paper stresses that a reorientation of Austrian trade unions is essential since the advancement of workers' interests on a consensual basis, as practiced by the established model of social partnership, seems to have become unfeasible. The continuation of a consensual regime of negotiation without a realistic chance of concessions by employers is seen as a weakness for the trade unions. Hence, the mobilisation of working people as well as militant action by the unions should be considered appropriate means, if necessary. This strategic orientation, however, requires a new conception of unionisation. Union members who are not included actively in the structures and processes of decision-making are not likely to support a militant trade union policy. For that reason, GPA underlines the importance of further democratic involvement of the union members, such as the membership ballot held in ÖGB in October 2001 to secure support for protests against the government's policies (AT0111201F).

Break with Austrian model of 'social peace'?

Whereas in other European countries such rhetoric is a usual part of labour disputes, at least as carried out by left-wing unions, the established Austrian model, which implies a consensual means of overcoming class antagonisms, is not really prepared for any such 'class conflict' rhetoric. Moreover, until now a very low incidence of labour conflicts has been characteristic of Austria's industrial relations. This has resulted from a specific post-war development in Austria, when a relatively strong tradition of state corporatism met the socio-economic interests of both capital and labour in favour of joint attempts at reconstruction. After the reconstruction period, this pattern of corporatist cooperation became consolidated and was commonly seen as key determinant of the country's outstanding socio-economic performance.

The neo-liberal policy shift adopted by the present government challenges the Austrian model of industrial relations, all the more since the FPÖ has never been an integrated part of the model and has thus opposed it for political reasons. Under these circumstances, the demonstrations organised by ÖGB against new government legislation in July 2001 (AT0108225N) and its very successful membership ballot in October 2001 (AT0111201F) have indicated notable discontent with the government's social and employment policy. In this respect, GPA has slightly criticised ÖGB, since these mass mobilisations were not followed by any other corresponding mass action. As its forthcoming merger with ÖGB's second largest affiliate, the blue-collar Metalworking and Textile Union (Gewerkschaft Metall-Textil, GMT), announced in October 2001, also shows (AT0110205N), GPA at the moment feels strong enough to adopt a policy line which clearly differs from the 'mainstream' position adopted by its confederation, ÖGB.

Commentary

The draft for a new policy strategy worked out by GPA is a response to the changed socio-economic and political conditions in Austria. In particular, the draft aims to transform a 'corporatist player' into an active and powerful counterpart of the present regime. This includes mass mobilisation and strike action as means of conducting interest politics. It remains to be seen, however, whether this draft, even if approved by GPA's assembly, will actually guide union politics. There are two main obstacles. First, ÖGB is obviously determined to stick to the principles of corporatist policy-making. Second, there is the strength of the corporatist institutions themselves that may well withstand the pressures from the current government. Such strength, in turn, is likely to maintain the unions' integration into Austria's corporatist system. (Georg Adam, University of Vienna)