Adam, Georg

The most recent strike statistics from the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB) - published exclusively by the Austrian Press Agency (APA) at the end of October 2004 - indicate that industrial dispute action among Austrian employees reached its highest level since the Second World War in 2003. According to the figures, 2003 saw the highest post-war number of working hours lost due to industrial action (totalling more than 10.4 million hours). In addition, more employees (some 780,000) were involved in industrial action than in any year since 1950 (when ÖGB's statistics began). On the basis of an eight-hour working day (ie the statutorily defined 'normal' working hours in Austria), this means more than 1.3 million working days lost due to industrial action in 2003. In terms of average strike duration per participant and per employee, the figures were 13.5 and 3.3 working hours lost, respectively.

The EU’s European employment strategy [1] was revised in 2003 (EU0308205F [2]), following demands for a more results-oriented strategy contributing successfully to the targets for more and better jobs and an inclusive labour market set at the Lisbon European Council in 2000 (EU0004241F [3]). To support the three objectives of full employment, quality and productivity at work and cohesion and an inclusive labour market, the current employment guidelines [4] identify 10 priorities ('commandments'), including one on 'promoting adaptability of workers and firms to change'. This identifies work organisation (alongside skills, lifelong learning and career development, gender equality, health and safety at work, flexibility and security, inclusion and access to the labour market, work-life balance, social dialogue and worker involvement, diversity and non-discrimination, and overall work performance) as an element in improved quality at work, which should be pursued through a concerted effort between all actors and particularly through social dialogue. [1] http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/employment_strategy/index_en.htm [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/2003-employment-guidelines-and-recommendations-adopted [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined-social-policies/lisbon-council-agrees-employment-targets [4] http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/employment_strategy/guidelines_en.htm

On 12 October 2004, during ongoing negotiations over new staff 'service regulations' (ie terms and conditions of employment) between the management of Austria’s largest banking institute, Bank Austria-Creditanstalt (BA-CA), and its central works council, the former unexpectedly announced its immediate withdrawal from the savings banks employers' association and its simultaneous joining of the commercial banks association. According to BA-CA management, this move to another employers' association means a change of service regulations for its workforce, which should now follow the collective agreement for the commercial banks subsector. The chief executive of BA-CA, Erich Hampel, stated that from 13 October 2004 all 11,000 of the company's employees were covered by the commercial banks collective agreement and that subsector’s uniform service regulations, and that this move was irreversible.

In principle, collective bargaining in Austria, which is confined to the private sector, takes place at multi-employer sectoral or industry level. The public sector is excluded from formal bargaining, but negotiations between public sector trade unions and government representatives are likewise conducted, with parliament determining the terms of employment (AT9912207F [1]). Private sector collective bargaining results in more than 400 separate collective agreements annually, covering about 98% of all private sector employees. Only a few dozen of the agreements cover a larger number of employees in broadly defined sectors or industries, while the majority are narrow subsectoral agreements or separate agreements on specific issues, some of them concluded at federal state (Land) level only. Despite the large number of agreements concluded annually, the wage bargaining system is strongly coordinated across the economy, primarily based on the pattern-setting role played by the metalworking industry in the overall bargaining process (AT0210202F [2]). This means that the metalworking collective agreement sets the pace for subsequent negotiations in other bargaining units in the course of the annual autumn bargaining round (usually starting in October). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/structures-and-patterns-in-collective-bargaining-reviewed [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/autumn-bargaining-round-opens-against-background-of-rising-unemployment

On 8 September 2004, the president of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB), Fritz Verzetnitsch, announced the definite failure of a union merger initiative involving four ÖGB affiliates. This announcement did not come as a surprise, since long-standing disagreements between the unions concerned have flared up during recent months (AT0406201N [1]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/plans-for-major-union-merger-in-danger-of-failure

Spring 2003 saw a series of strikes and protest actions directed against the government’s plans to introduce a far-reaching state pensions reform (AT0306201N [1]), which was eventually endorsed by parliament on 11 June 2003, though in a slightly modified form compared with the original draft. Contrary to Austria’s tradition of intense social partner involvement in important social policy matters, a social partners' joint initiative to find an alternative to the government’s reform proposals was not taken up by the latter (AT0305202F [2]). However, the strike actions mainly organised by the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB) - which were the most far-reaching such protests Austria has experienced since the Second World War, with hundreds of thousands of employees participating (AT0401203F [3]) - did have an impact: although the pensions reform passed by parliament entails substantial welfare cuts for future beneficiaries, organised labour managed to achieve some mitigation of the original draft, in particular an overall ceiling of 10% on the pension losses resulting from the reform. Moreover, in an effort to forestall further protest actions, the coalition government of the conservative People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP) and the populist Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) announced that the various pension systems for different occupational groups would be harmonised by the end of 2003, as demanded by the trade unions. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/further-strikes-as-pensions-talks-fail [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/government-challenges-social-partnership [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/2003-annual-review-for-austria

During summer 2004, the Austrian media have alleged a series of cases of large-scale 'social fraud' committed by companies in various sectors. The most recent and prominent such cases refer to a large German-based food retailer that runs hundreds of stores in Austria and a road haulage company headquartered in Carinthia.

On 13 August 2004 - as in the previous August (AT0309202F [1]) - Austrian (the former Austrian Airlines national air carrier) was hit by limited strike action involving flight crew. As a consequence, according to management, a number of the day’s scheduled flights had to be cancelled at short notice, which disrupted the travel plans of some 6,000 passengers who had booked a flight with Austrian. The financial costs caused to the company by the action amounted to at least EUR 650,000. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/dispute-at-austrian-airlines

The phenomenon of undeclared work - defined as 'any paid activities that are lawful as regards their nature but not declared to the public authorities'- is an issue which has been preoccupying the EU institutions for a number of years. In 1998, the European Commission issued a Communication [1] on undeclared work, which was designed to launch a debate on the causes of such work and the policy options for combating it (EU9804197F [2]). It suggested that there was a need to clarify the causes and extent, and concluded that combating undeclared work should be part of the overall European employment strategy [3]. [1] http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/employment_strategy/index_en.htm [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/commission-targets-undeclared-work [3] http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/employment_strategy/index_en.htm

On 30 June 2004, most of the 2,700 or so employees of Postbus AG, Austria’s largest bus operator, which runs a large proportion of regional bus services, held a series of half-day works meetings. As a consequence, almost all the company’s vehicles were kept in their garages during the morning, causing inconvenience for more than half a million passengers (in particular school pupils) in reaching their destinations. The meetings were organised by the company’s works council in order to inform the employees about, and protest against, government plans to sell a third of Postbus AG to private bus companies.