Gächter, August

The Minister for Women's Affairs has made it clear that she wishes to make progress in 1998 on the issue of women's careers in enterprises. Studies in the past years have proven the existence of a "glass ceiling" through which women are unlikely to pass. An 11-point women's petition submitted to Parliament in 1997 put combating this glass ceiling first on the list of demands. Specifically, the petition suggested that companies should be excluded from public contracts and subsidies unless they had taken measures to employ women at all hierarchical levels in proportion to their share in the population. The Ministry sees little opportunity to go quite that far, but it does want to take action in this direction.

Joining the European Union in 1995 made it necessary for Austria to improve the regulations on employee protection against hazards. This included particularly the appointment of safety officers in enterprises, the documentation of hazards, and the availability and job descriptions of occupational medical practitioners. A plan was drawn up to implement better protection in stages, starting in 1997 with firms employing more than 100 workers. On 1 January 1998, firms with between 51 and 100 employees became subject to the new regulations, and on 1 January 1999 those with 11 to 50 employees will follow. Finally in 2000, the remaining companies with 10 or fewer employees will also be covered.

The Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB) has launched a campaign in 1998 to make good on one of its long-standing demands: the removal of the remaining legal differences between wage earners/blue-collar workers (Arbeiter) and salary earners/white-collar workers (Angestellten). In the late 1970s, equality in holiday regulations and severance pay was achieved. Now ÖGB wants regulations concerning wage earners' payment during sickness and dismissal notice periods to be brought up to salary earner standards. The ÖGB sees this as the final phase of a historical social policy project. The Austrian Chamber of the Economy (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKÖ) has made it clear it opposes any measure that would increase total wage costs, this being one of the hottest issues between social partners at national level. By the WKÖ's reckoning, upward equalisation would cost ATS 10 billion per year, while the ÖGB estimates the net cost to be about ATS 1 billion per year. There are 1.3 million wage earners on annual average, about 43% of total employment.

At the 1995 congress of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB) its member trade unions decided to reorganise. The goal is to reduce the number of individual trade unions from 14 to three, covering manufacturing, services, and public service. There is no clear time-limit for the process. In the first two years little was achieved by way of obvious results, but 1998 promises to bring the first of these. On 21 January 1998 two trade unions, the Union of Printing and Paper Workers (Gewerkschaft Druck und Papier) and the Union of Posts and Telecommunications Employees (Gewerkschaft der Post- und Fernmeldebediensteten) concluded a cooperation agreement. They are forming a jointly and proportionately financed platform to decide policy measures and a joint steering committee with proportional representation. The rationale is the unions' shared activity in the media sector. By 2000, they want to unite their offices in one location. A full merger in the future is not ruled out, neither is it explicitly planned. According to press reports, the ÖGB's president commented that a merger might have been the result if the ÖGB could have taken decisions like a joint stock company.

A collective agreement on working time was concluded in the construction industry on 9 August 1996. Although it became effective retroactively from 1 July 1996, its first impact was felt only in 1997. The main aim was to reduce the industry's reliance on the national unemployment insurance system though workers being laid off during the winter, and to distribute the cost of doing so between enterprises and employees. It is now possible to make a first assessment of the deal's effects.

Work on Sunday is in principle prohibited in Austria. However, the law permits exemptions to be made by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs for basic necessities or for economic or technological reasons, and by the heads of provincial governments for exceptional regional supply purposes. New legislation in 1997 also opened the door for the social partners to conclude collective agreements permitting Sunday work if this is deemed necessary in order to safeguard or create employment (AT9703107N [1]). If the proposed Sunday work is to be only temporary and connected with the introduction of new technology, an exemption can also be granted by the Central Labour Inspectorate (Zentrales Arbeitsinspektorat). Recently, a number of enterprises - some industrial, some in retailing, some in other services - have made demands for such exemptions. This has, in turn, led to a debate among the social partners and the broader public about the use and abuse of Sunday work regulations. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/more-flexibility-in-sunday-working

On 9 December 1997 the pension reform for those employees of the Austrian Federal Railways (Österreichische Bundesbahnen, ÖBB) with civil servant status was concluded. This was the final part of the pensions reform the Government had set out to achieve at the beginning of 1007 (AT9711144F [1]). Because ÖBB pensions are not regulated by law or by collective agreement but by individual employment contracts, the reform posed serious problems. It was finally achieved by way of a delicate balance between legal reform and works agreement. This was accompanied by serious tensions within the coalition Government. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined-social-policies/pension-reform-nears-completion

The Austria Government has taken three new measures aimed at facilitating youth employment. In the first, a clause was added to the Federal Tendering Act (Bundesvergabegesetz), as part of the general tendering conditions, requiring that in awarding tenders for contracts, the employment of persons on a training contract be taken into account. Parliament approved this change. No explicit mention of apprenticeship contracts was made, because this would conflict with European Union regulations. The new clause takes effect from 1 January 1998.

At the beginning of December 1997, the Austrian Government announced plans for a "clean workplace campaign" (Aktion sauberer Arbeitsplatz) aimed at combating illegal employment. The main objective is to get a better grip on taxable income but a secondary aim is clearly to please the social partners after 1997's acrimonious pensions debate (AT9709134N [1]). At the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium für Arbeit, Gesundheit und Soziales, BMAGS), six working groups were set up with a remit to devise tighter controls and more adequate penalties. In all working groups, the social partners are included along with representatives of various ministries. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/pensions-reform-remains-a-divisive-issue

The economic situation in Austria proved stable in 1997, with growth rates reaching 2% in real terms. These are expected to rise further to 2.7% in 1998. Economic growth was largely export-driven as the increase in domestic incomes was limited. Inflation was reduced to 1.4% and is expected to remain at this level in 1998. The level of unemployment was steady at 4.4% and is expected to decrease only slightly in 1998. The budget deficit amounted to 2.5% of GDP, which is half of the 1995 level, and it is expected that this decrease will continue.