Adam, Georg

On 19 May 2008, the highest governing body (/Präsidium/) of Austria’s smallest trade union, the Arts, Media, Sports and Liberal Professions Union (Gewerkschaft Kunst, Medien, Sport, freie Berufe, KMSfB [1]), resolved to change its strategic orientation. Instead of seeking a far-reaching ‘cooperation’ with another trade union, as decided in 2006, the trade union now aims to merge with an ‘appropriate partner trade union’. According to the KMSfB leadership, a reformulation of the trade union’s strategic orientation has become inevitable in order to secure an effective union representation on behalf of its members in the future. [1] http://www.kmsfb.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=S02/Page/S02_Index&n=S02_0

The organisation of female entrepreneurs, Women in Business (Frau in der Wirtschaft [1]), in the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKO [2]) has long criticised the tradition of women being significantly underrepresented in WKO bodies. At present, women make up almost a third of all WKO members, while occupying only 14% of the representative positions in WKO bodies. In order to redress this underrepresentation and to attach more value to women’s concerns, Women in Business calls for doubling the share of female representatives in WKO bodies by 2010. [1] http://portal.wko.at/wk/startseite_fiw.wk?DstID=281 [2] http://portal.wko.at/wk/startseite.wk

In the summer of 2007, the Austrian parliament passed an amendment to the 1969 Working Time Act (/Arbeitszeitgesetz/, AZG) which provides for a number of new regulations, in particular with regard to working time [1] flexibility [2] and part-time work [3] (*AT0708019I* [4]). This amendment was drafted by the coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ [5]) and the conservative Austrian People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP [6]) in close cooperation with the social partners (*AT0702029I* [7]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/working-time [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/flexibility [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/part-time-work [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/more-flexible-working-time-rules-introduced [5] http://www.spoe.at/ [6] http://www.oevp.at/index.aspx?pageid=737 [7] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/government-seeks-more-working-time-flexibility

On 10 April 2008, after 14 months of intense negotiations, the Federal Minister for Social Affairs and Consumer Protection, Erwin Buchinger of the Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ [1]), and representatives of all nine Austrian provinces (/Länder/) agreed on a ‘needs-oriented basic cover’ scheme. The current ‘grand coalition’ government – comprising the SPÖ and the conservative Austrian People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP [2]) – plans to introduce this scheme on 1 July 2009. The ‘basic cover’ scheme aims to prevent destitution among the country’s population through a range of measures. [1] http://www.spoe.at/ [2] http://www.oevp.at/index.aspx?pageid=737&bhcp=1

Following heated discussion, on 5 December 2007 the Austrian parliament passed an amendment to the Austrian Constitution, which explicitly recognises the central role of the social partners in the country’s system of policymaking. In the amendment, the government makes an explicit commitment to promote the industrial relations actors, in particular the chambers. However, the initiative has received a mixed response – a result which can be understood in the context of the country’s industrial relations system.

In the summer of 2006, employees of Austro Control [1] – the national provider of air traffic control and air safety in Austrian airspace (*AT0307203F* [2]) – protested against ‘excessive’ overtime [3] work through a work-to-rule campaign (*AT0609029I* [4]). Significant delays in flight departures at Vienna International Airport (VIA [5]) occurred as a result. In February 2008, the conflict over air traffic controllers’ working conditions flared up once again during the 2008 collective bargaining round. As in 2006, the air traffic controllers were refusing to work ostensibly excessive overtime hours, which they considered would lead to precarious working conditions. The airline most affected by the labour shortage was the Austrian Airlines Group (AUA [6]), the main client of VIA. According to an AUA spokesperson, the national air carrier has recorded considerable delays in flight activities since the beginning of 2008, when the protest action was initiated. [1] http://www.austrocontrol.at/content/acg/austro.shtml [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/restructuring-of-public-services-challenges-union-demarcation-lines [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/overtime [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/agreement-reached-in-dispute-about-overtime-for-air-traffic-controllers [5] http://www.viennaairport.com/jart/prj3/via/website.jart [6] http://www.aua.com/at/deu/austrian/

On 19 December 2007, the parties forming the current so-called grand coalition government – the Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ [1]) and the People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP [2]) – agreed, after difficult and intense negotiations lasting over several weeks, on a draft amendment to the Equal Treatment for Men and Women Act (/Gleichbehandlungsgesetz/, GBG (in German) [3]) (*AT0103209F* [4]). According to the State Secretary for Labour Affairs, Christine Marek of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP [5]), the amendment will bring about numerous improvements for victims of workplace discrimination [6] on the grounds of their gender. This initiative is designed to introduce the provisions of the European Council Directive 2004/113/EC [7] implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services. [1] http://www.spoe.at/ [2] http://www.oevp.at/ [3] http://www.richtervereinigung.at/bgbg.htm [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/social-policies-undefined-industrial-relations/gender-related-pay-differentials-examined [5] http://www.oevp.at/index.aspx?pageid=737 [6] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/discrimination [7] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32004L0113&model=guichett

In Austria, the 1997 Hospitals’ Working Time Act (Krankenanstalten-Arbeitszeitgesetz, KA-AZG (in German, 50Kb PDF) [1]) restricts the average working week of hospital doctors to a maximum average of 48 hours. The working week may be extended to a maximum of 60 hours in a single week, provided that the normal working week does not exceed the 48 hours’ average over a specific reference period. In addition, the individual working day must not exceed a maximum of 13 hours. However, the KA-AZG also provides for the possibility of extending these working hours through a company-level works agreement [2]. In this respect, the law provides for working time [3] limits as follows: a maximum of 60 working hours a week on average, with a maximum of 72 hours in a single working week; a maximum of 32 hours during the working week and of 49 hours during weekend work, including rest periods that have to be observed for each period of service. [1] http://www.bmwa.gv.at/NR/rdonlyres/731D26A6-A91E-4AFE-B13A-95F763D32653/0/KrankenanstaltenArbeitszeitgesetz.pdf [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/efemiredictionary/works-agreement [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/working-time

Since 1 January 2008, about 65,000 workers with a ‘free service contract’ (/freier Dienstvertrag/) are covered by a new social security [1] law and therefore have the same social protection as ‘standard’ dependent employees in many respects. This is the outcome of a series of amendments to social security legislation, which aimed to substantially improve the social protection [2] of this group of workers with an atypical work [3] contract. The Austrian parliament endorsed these legislative amendments on 4 December 2007. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/social-security [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/social-protection [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/atypical-work

Since the early 2000s, corporate social responsibility [1] (CSR) has been a particular focus of debate in Austria. This is mainly due to financial scandals in the US and – to a lesser extent – in Europe during the late 1990s, which have in turn generally reduced the public’s trust in business proceedings. In 2002, after some CSR initiatives had separately rather than jointly been launched by organised labour and business, the voluntary Austrian Corporate Governance Code came into force. The code primarily, albeit not exclusively, targets enterprises that are listed on the Viennese stock exchange and lays down principles of good corporate governance [2]. According to the preamble of the code, this voluntary initiative is designed to ‘reinforce the confidence of investors by improving reporting transparency and the quality of cooperation between supervisory board, management board and shareholders, and by taking long-term “value creation” into account’ (*AT0502204F* [3]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/corporate-social-responsibility [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/corporate-governance [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/social-partners-debate-corporate-social-responsibility