ÖGB mobilises members against social security reforms

In July 2001, Austria's ÖGB trade union confederation called major demonstrations in protest against new government legislation which reforms the representation of the social partners in the management of the social insurance system. The unions believe that the changes violate basic democratic rights. The government, unimpressed by the protests, is continuing with its policy of rebuilding the structure of the social insurance system.

Since the new coalition government of the populist Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) and the conservative People's Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP) came to power on 4 February 2000, the reform of the social security and welfare system (AT0011234F) has been a matter of much dispute (AT0007225F). Most recently and dramatically, a recent government proposal for amendments to the General Social Insurance Act (Allgemeines Sozialversicherungsgesetz, ASVG) provoked outrage among employees' organisations and led to a huge demonstration against government on 5 July 2001 in Vienna. For the first time in its 100-year history, the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB) called upon its 1.44 million members nationwide to take part in demonstrations. About 50,000 people demonstrated in Vienna in support of basic democratic rights, which the unions regard as being violated by the government's latest reform.

The amending legislation - which has in the meantime been passed by parliament - provides for a reform of the central institution of the social insurance system, the Association of Social Security Providers (Hauptverband der Sozialversicherungsträger, HSV), designed to change significantly the representational structure of this body.

Up to now, the members of the "main conference" (Verbandskonferenz) of the HSV were recruited from representatives of organised labour and business, in accordance with the results of the elections of their representatives in the Chambers of Labour (Arbeiterkammern, AK s), representing workers, and the Chamber of the Economy (Wirtschaftskammer Österreichs, WKÖ), Austria's main employers' organisation (AT0004217N). The most recent Chamber of Labour elections in May 2000 brought overall gains for the candidates representing the Fraktion Sozialdemokratischer Gewerkschafter (FSG), which is affiliated to the opposition Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ), and the main loser was the Freiheitliche Arbeitnehmer (FA) grouping, affiliated to the populist FPÖ. The results of the elections were widely regarded as a warning signal of opposition to the ÖVP-FPÖ coalition government and its reform initiatives addressing the social welfare system (AT0007224N).

Under the new system, HSV will have a governing board (Verwaltungsrat), whose members will still be recruited in line with the results of the Chamber elections. However, they will include at least one representative of the three most successful groupings in the elections. This means that the FPÖ-affiliated FA, despite being the main loser in the most recent Chamber of Labour elections, will have one seat on the governing board.

The employees' organisations reject the government's reform of the HSV's organisation, arguing that the new representational system impairs the position of organised labour and ignores the results of the elections to the Chambers. "This is a further step to exclude the social partners from negotiations over social reforms and to destabilise the democratic system," stated the president of ÖGB, Fritz Verzetnitsch.

Representatives of the WKÖ also expressed some reservations about the reform, fearing that escalating conflicts might endanger social partnership in Austria. While the Minister of Social Affairs, Herbert Haupt, rejected the criticism and urged the employees' organisations to return to negotiations, ÖGB decided to hold a membership ballot between 24 September and 15 October 2001 on further protest actions.