Adam, Georg

On 1 August 2007, the Austrian parliament (Nationalrat [1]) endorsed an amendment to the Working Time Act (Arbeitszeitgesetz, AZG) with support only from members of the coalition government parties. The amendment, which was based on a draft bill jointly presented by the social partners on 3 May 2007, provides for greater working time flexibility [2]. The new legislation also adopted almost all of the proposals presented in the working time chapter of the government programme (Regierungsprogramm 2007–2010 (in German, 415Kb PDF) [3]) of the coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ [4]) and the conservative Austrian People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP [5]) established in January 2007 (*AT0702029I* [6]). The more flexible working time regime aims to better accommodate both the various sector-related business demands and employee needs in terms of work-life balance [7]. [1] http://www.parlament.gv.at/portal/page?_pageid=888,1&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/flexibility [3] http://www.austria.gv.at/DocView.axd?CobId=19542 [4] http://www.spoe.at/ [5] http://www.oevp.at/ [6] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/government-seeks-more-working-time-flexibility [7] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/worklife-balance-0

On 2 July 2007, the President of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB [1]), Rudolf Hundstorfer, and the President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKÖ [2]), Christoph Leitl, signed an agreement ‘in principle’, which aims to introduce a national minimum monthly gross pay rate of €1,000. The signatory parties agreed to establish the new minimum wage across all sectors of the national economy through sectoral collective agreements, at the latest by 1 January 2009. Sectors affected by the agreement will include textiles and leather, food manufacturing and several branches of the private services sector, such as hairdressers, pedicurists, cosmeticians and taxi drivers. It is estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 employees will be affected by the agreement. [1] http://www.oegb.at/ [2] http://portal.wko.at/

On 22 May 2007, the parties to collective bargaining signed an agreement on behalf of about 3,500 ground staff of the Austrian Airlines group (AUA [1]), the country’s national air carrier. This agreement marks the temporary end of a serious conflict lasting several months, when negotiations over a follow-up collective agreement for commercial and technical staff ended in deadlock after the previous agreement had elapsed on 31 October 2006. [1] http://www.aua.com/at/deu

Like several other former public authorities (*AT0307203F* [1], *AT0203202F* [2]), Austrian universities changed from the status of a public authority to the status of a corporation with legal capacity in 2002 – a system known as /Ausgliederung/. Restructuring of the universities has thus led to semi-private, ‘hybrid’ employment relations, since the civil servants who were appointed before restructuring have maintained their public law employment status, whereas employees who have been employed since 1 January 2004 are recruited under a private law employment contract. The University Act 2002 (/Universitätsgesetz/) on university restructuring introduced the private sector model of industrial relations, by equipping the newly-established National University Federation (Dachverband der österreichischen Universitäten [3]) as the umbrella employer organisation with the right to bargain. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/restructuring-of-public-services-challenges-union-demarcation-lines [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/industrial-relations-in-posts-and-telecommunications-examined [3] http://www.reko.ac.at/dachverband/

On 6 and 7 December 2006, the newly-established vida [1] trade unions [2] held its founding congress in Vienna in the presence of some 774 delegates of the three predecessor unions. At this event, the union was officially set up as a result of the merger of the former Union of Railway Employees (Gewerkschaft der Eisenbahner, GdE), the blue-collar Commerce and Transport Union (Gewerkschaft Handel, Transport, Verkehr, HTV) and the blue-collar Hotels, Catering and Personal Services Union (Gewerkschaft Hotel, Gastgewerbe, Persönlicher Dienst, HGPD). [1] http://www.vida.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=S03/Page/S03_Index&n=S03_0 [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/trade-unions

In mid April 2007, the respective Presidents of Austria’s two major social partner organisations, Christoph Leitl of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKÖ [1]) and Rudolf Hundstorfer of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB [2]), agreed on measures aimed at preventing social security fraud in companies. According to the social partner proposal, employers should in future be obliged to register their employees with the relevant social insurance institutions before the commencement of work or on the day of commencement at the latest. [1] http://portal.wko.at/wk/startseite.wk [2] http://www.oegb.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OEGBZ/Page/OEGBZ_Index&n=OEGBZ_0

From 22 to 24 January 2007, the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB [1]) held its sixteenth general congress (/Bundeskongress/), the ÖGB’s highest governing body, at the Austria Centre Vienna (ACV [2]). At its congress, the trade union federation adopted the first step of an internal restructuring process; this was deemed necessary in the wake of the conflict related to the financial scandal concerning the Bank for Employment and Commerce (Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft AG, BAWAG [3]) and the former ÖGB leadership’s involvement in this controversy (*AT0604019I* [4]). The applications and proposals for a comprehensive reform of the trade union submitted at the congress were largely based on the results of ballots and regional conferences organised throughout the country during the autumn of 2006 (*AT0611029I* [5]). [1] http://www.oegb.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OEGBZ/Page/OEGBZ_Index&n=OEGBZ_0 [2] http://www.acv.at/evo/web/acv/2268_DE [3] http://www.bawag.com/bawag/home/nav.html [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/union-president-forced-to-resign-over-bank-scandal [5] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/disagreement-over-future-role-of-trade-union-federation

The right to part-time work for parents of pre-school age children was first introduced by the then conservative-populist coalition government on 1 July 2004. The aim of the initiative was to facilitate the reconciliation of work and family commitments, in particular for mothers of small children (*AT0310201N* [1]). The parental part-time work scheme stipulates that all parents with children younger than seven years of age (or older in case of the postponement of their school entrance) are entitled to switch from full-time to part-time employment, or to alter their working time while retaining the volume of daily working hours during the working day. To avail of this scheme, the following preconditions must be met: [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/right-to-parental-part-time-work-proposed

According to the industry branch of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKÖ [1]), the country’s businesses are suffering from a chronic shortfall of skilled domestic workers, at least in certain occupations. In particular, WKÖ reports a considerable shortage of welders, milling machine operators and turners, mechanics and toolmakers in metalworking. Consequently, WKÖ and a number of individual employers have reiterated their demands that access to the domestic labour market should be facilitated for skilled workers from the central and eastern EU Member States which acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004. [1] http://portal.wko.at/

On 11 January 2007, the new coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ [1]) and the conservative Austrian People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP [2]) was inaugurated by Austria’s Federal President (/Bundespräsident/), Dr Heinz Fischer. In its government programme (Regierungsprogramm 2007–2010 (in German) [3]) for the coming legislative period 2007–2010, the new government outlined its plans to amend Austria’s working time regime, with the aim of introducing greater working time flexibility. When formulating the chapter on working time, the relevant political parties largely adopted a joint proposal devised by Austria’s major social partner organisations in the autumn of 2006. [1] http://www.spoe.at/ [2] http://www.oevp.at/index.aspx?pageid=737 [3] http://www.bundeskanzleramt.at/DocView.axd?CobId=19542