Gächter, August
Male-female wage gap widens
27 Октомври 1997
Recently released income data from social security files show the income gap
between men and women to have widened in 1996. The median gross income per
month stood at ATS 27,131 for men and ATS 18,868 for women - the difference
being 44%, compared with a gap of 43% in 1995. The overall median had risen
from ATS 23,265 to ATS 23,848, an increase of 2.5%. The data are not adjusted
for differences in working time, and the 25% share of part-time workers in
the female workforce, as opposed to 2% among males, thus pushes the median
down. Assuming there was no noticeable change in the proportions of
part-timers, the widening of the reported gap does, however, indicate a real
development. Among public servants, where part-time work is less likely
because it is less available - and where there is a heavy male "overhang" in
the relatively poorly-paid police force while there is a female overhang
among the better-paid teachers - the median for women stood at ATS 30,532 as
opposed to only ATS 28,295 for men.
Measures agreed to create teaching positions
27 Септември 1997
The Government and the teachers' sections within the Union of Public Services
(Gewerkschaft Öffentlicher Dienst, GÖD) have agreed a package of legal
changes on retirement and working time, aimed at cutting costs and ensuring
the employment of young teachers. The package was approved by the cabinet in
October 1997.
Industrial action threatened on the railways
27 Септември 1997
The threat that employees at the Austrian Federal Railways (Österreichische
Bundesbahnen, ÖBB) would have to pay unemployment insurance contributions,
backdated to 1995, is about to be defused by an act of Parliament. The Union
of Railway Workers (Gewerkschaft der Eisenbahner) had been threatening
strikes in the event that pay deductions should commence from August 1997, as
seemed likely at first.
Pensions reform remains a divisive issue
27 Септември 1997
The Austrian Government is aiming to finalise its pension reform effort
(AT9707118F [1]) before the end of 1997. Essentially it consists of two
components: lowering pension entitlements and widening the contributor base
to the four national pension schemes. The latter is to be achieved by
including the self-employed as well as part-timers earning less than the
subsistence minimum, and by placing disincentives in the way of early
retirement. These discincentives are designed as a trade-off between the
length of the retirement and the size of the pension. For every year of
retirement before the standard pension eligibility age - ie 60 for women and
65 for men - the pension is to be reduced by 2%. Expert advice was to
institute a 4% reduction per year. The lowering of pension entitlements, in
addition to this trade-off element, has a number of other components, chiefly
the lengthening of the base period on which pensions are computed from 15 to
20 years in the case of early retirement, and a new formula for pension
adjustments from the year 2000. The new formula is to be thrashed out by
experts in 1998. The longer base period, according to the Austrian Trade
Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB), will result in
new pensions being 4% to 5% lower on average than they would be with a
15-year base period. In the civil service, no such base period currently
exists, and here the Government intends gradually to introduce a 15-year base
period between 1999 and 2012.
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/pension-reform-plans-under-debate
New forms of apprenticeship contracts - an example from the Federal Railways
27 Август 1997
The Austrian Federal Railways (Österreichische Bundesbahnen, ÖBB, ) employs
about 55,000 people, and each year hires about 350 new apprentices for
three-year courses. In 1997, it was originally planned to reduce the number
to 250 but two recent agreements should lead to an intake of over 400. The
key to the increase is innovative bargaining by the Union of Railway Workers
(Gewerkschaft der Eisenbahner) and funding from the Government.
Sabbatical leave planned in Vienna
27 Јули 1997
The city authorities of Vienna, together with the Union of Local
Administration Employees (Gewerkschaft der Gemeindebediensteten, GGB), is
planning to bring greater flexibility to the working time arrangements of its
employees. Two measures are being proposed - sabbatical leave and greater
opportunities for part-time work. Both sides are basically agreed these
measures are needed and should take effect from the beginning of 1998, but
the details will yet have to be negotiated.
First collective agreement signed on teleworking
27 Јули 1997
Agreed on 14 April 1997 and finally signed at the end of June, a collective
agreement on teleworking (Telearbeit) covering industrial enterprises in the
mineral oils sector took effect from 1 May 1997. It was concluded between the
Association of the Mineral Oils Industry (Fachverband der Erdölindustrie) -
which forms part of the Federal Section Industry (Bundessektion Industrie) of
the Austrian Chamber of Economy (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKÖ) - for
employers and three trade unions: the Union of Salaried Employees
(Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten, GPA) covering trade in mineral oils as
well as salaried employees in manufacturing and extraction; the Union of
Chemical Workers (Gewerkschaft der Chemiearbeiter) covering waged workers in
manufacturing; and the Metals Mining Energy Trade Union (Gewerkschaft Metall
Bergbau Energie, GMBE) covering waged workers in extraction.
Another year without strikes
27 Јули 1997
According to data recently published by the Austrian Trade Union Federation
(Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB), there was not a single strike in
1996. In 1995 there had been one strike involving 60 workers at a tools
factory in the south of the country, who clocked up 894 strike hours in the
course of two days. For the total economy there were 1.05 seconds of strike
activity per employee. In 1994, too, there were no strikes.
Railway employees found liable for unemployment insurance contributions
27 Јули 1997
Owing to a decision issued by the Constitutional Court
(Verfassungsgerichtshof), published in mid-July 1997, employees of the
Austrian Federal Railways (Österreichische Bundesbahnen, ÖBB) may have to
pay unemployment insurance contributions, amounting to 3% of gross pay, from
August 1997. Because the deduction is made before tax, the tax base shrinks
and the net result for the employee is a reduction of take-home pay by
roughly 2%. Average net income will be reduced by about ATS 600 per month.
This compares with a pay increase of ATS 250 per month set by collective
agreement from 1 July 1997 (plus a one-off payment of ATS 1,750).
Work accidents down in 1996
27 Јули 1997
The total number of work accidents declined from 164,469 in 1994 to 159,122
in 1995 and to 149,949 in 1996, according to figures recently released by the
General Accident Insurance Corporation (Allgemeine
Unfallversicherungsanstalt, AUVA). These numbers refer to a broad concept of
"work accident" including accidents on the way to and from work, and also
include accidents involving self-employed people, of which there are roughly
5,000 every year.