Adam, Georg
Industrial relations in private adult education sector examined
25 oktober 2005
In February 2005, the first-ever collective agreement for private training
institutions was concluded after several years of negotiations (AT0504202N
[1]). We take this as an opportunity to look at the system of industrial
relations in this sector in general.
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/first-collective-agreement-signed-for-private-training-institutions
Metalworking agreement provides for sharp pay increase
09 oktober 2005
On 23 September 2005, only one week after the first meeting of the bargaining
parties involved, the new collective agreement for some 180,000 employees in
the metalworking industry was concluded. Accordingly, both minimum and actual
wages and salaries (including the apprentices’ remuneration) will increase
by 3.1%, beginning on 1 November 2005. This agreement provides for the
highest pay increase of recent years (see table below). Both parties, ie
branch subunit representatives of the Chamber of the Economy
(Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKÖ) on the employers’ side and
representatives of the blue-collar Metalworking and Textiles Union
(Gewerkschaft Metall-Textil, GMT) and white-collar Union of Salaried
Employees (Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten, GPA) on the employees’
side, have emphasised that the bargaining process proved extraordinarily
difficult. However, this contrasts with the fact that the sectoral social
partners reached an agreement within a few days only. Considering the high
inflation rate of 2.5% in 2005 as well as outstandingly high productivity
rates of the metalworking industry in 2004 (WKÖ 2005: Leistungsbericht
2004), it soon became clear that the trade unions would not be willing to
accept pay increases lower than 3%. Therefore the agreement did not come as a
great surprise.
2004 Annual Review for Austria
12 juli 2005
A series of elections to the regional (Länder) parliaments (Landtage) were
held during 2004. On 7 March, the Social Democratic Party
(Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ) won - for the first time in
this province - the regional elections in Salzburg, receiving 45.4% of the
vote (up 13.1 percentage points from the previous election in 1999). The
conservative People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP), which had
been the province’s largest party and thus in power during the whole
post-war period until then, lost 0.8 percentage points and for the first time
fell to the second position (with 37.9%). As a consequence, Gabi Burgstaller,
the head of Salzburg’s SPÖ, became the first ever social democrat and
woman to be inaugurated as the province’s governor (Landeshauptfrau).
Whereas the populist Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ)
lost more than the half of its 1999 vote, receiving 8.7% of the vote, the
Green Party (Die Grünen, GRÜNE) increased its share of the vote from 5.4%
to 8.0%.
IT social partners agree further training certificate
14 februari 2005
In the course of the 2004 autumn bargaining round, on 3 December 2004 the
sectoral social partners (AT0012235N [1]) concluded a new framework
collective agreement for the information technology (IT) industry, which is
the first such agreement in Austria to include provisions on a so-called
further training certificate (Bildungszertifizierung) scheme. The certificate
is designed to guarantee certain further training standards for most IT
employees in Austria on a comparable basis. Accordingly, paragraph 23 of the
new collective agreement recommends that all IT companies with a certain
number of employees comply with the requirements of this certificate. 'The
further training certificate is valid for the whole country’s territory.
Its purpose is to record and promote both the businesses’ and the
employees’ readiness to play an active role in the process of lifelong
learning,' stated Karl Proyer, chief negotiator for the white-collar Union of
Salaried Employees (Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten, GPA), at a press
conference in mid-January 2005. In the long run, this measure is devised both
to improve the labour market chances of IT workers and to enhance the
competitiveness of Austrian IT firms, due to generally better qualified
employees.
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/first-collective-agreement-for-information-technology-sector
Labour immigration examined
03 februari 2005
Against a background of increasing unemployment levels among foreign
nationals in Austria, the current government of the conservative People’s
Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP) and the populist Freedom Party
(Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) intends further to restrict labour
immigration by workers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
According to the government’s recently announced plans, the country’s
overall intake of immigrant workers from outside the EEA will be near zero in
2005. Over recent years, the government’s policy line was that labour
immigration should be restricted mainly with regard to less-skilled labour,
whereas it aimed to attract skilled labour from outside the EEA to work in
Austria within a certain quota-based framework (AT0109128N [1]). Now, in
2005, the government aims also to reduce the quota for so-called 'key
workers' (defined as 'third-country nationals' earning at least EUR 2,100
before taxes per month).
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/government-intends-to-restrict-labour-immigration
Study finds increasing gap in pay structure
31 januari 2005
In December 2004, the Austrian Institute of Economic Research
(Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, WIFO) published a
study on the long-term development of income distribution in Austria (/Die
langfristige Entwicklung der Einkommensverteilung in Österreich/, Alois
Guger and Markus Marterbauer, WIFO, 2004). The study, which was carried out
on behalf of the Ministry of Social Security, Generations and Consumer
Protection (Bundesministerium für Soziale Sicherheit, Generationen und
Konsumentenschutz, BMSG), examines post-war developments in terms of both
functional distribution (ie the distribution of the national income between
the production factors labour and capital) and personal distribution (ie
income relations among individuals). In the context of a generally
problematic data situation regarding income statistics, due to a variety of
institutions recording and processing such data in different ways, the WIFO
study aims to obviate the existing lack of data quality by simultaneously and
comparatively referring to (at least the most important) different data
sources. This methodological approach, which takes into account the
heterogeneity of different income data, seeks to make the study more reliable
in comparison with previous income studies. The main findings of the research
are summarised below.
Government proposes household service chequeto combat undeclared work
16 januari 2005
On 22 December 2004, the coalition government of the conservative People’s
Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP) and the populist Freedom Party
(Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) presented draft legislation on a
'household service cheque' (Dienstleistungsscheck), which it plans to
introduce in autumn 2005. This scheme seeks to facilitate and promote legal
'quasi-employment' in household services, in particular with respect to
childcare, care of elderly people, domestic cleaning and home maintenance.
According to Martin Bartenstein, the Minister of Economy and Labour Affairs
(Bundesminister für Wirtschaft und Arbeit, BMWA), the planned measure aims
to increase legal activity rates in a problematic segment of the labour
market marked by a high degree of illicit employment practices, and to help
reconcile the work and family life of the - mostly female - workers
concerned. Mr Bartenstein stated that the introduction of the cheque will
enable both (quasi-)employers and paid workers to create legal 'employment'
relationships and to pay social insurance contributions on a regular basis.
The use of the cheque will be voluntary and its handling will be easy and
unbureaucratic, the Minister announced.
Common pay system agreed for all metalworking employees
06 december 2004
After 23 hours of unbroken and intense negotiations, on 4 November 2004 the
sectoral social partners concluded a new collective agreement for some
119,000 blue-collar and 74,000 white-collar workers in the metalworking
industry. This sector traditionally opens Austria's annual autumn bargaining
round and plays a pattern-setting role in the overall bargaining process
(AT0210202F [1]). According to the bargaining parties involved - the various
branch subunits of the Chamber of the Economy (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich,
WKÖ) on the employers’ side and the blue-collar Metalworking and Textiles
Union (Gewerkschaft Metall-Textil, GMT) and white-collar Union of Salaried
Employees (Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten, GPA) on the employees’ side
- the negotiations proved to be extraordinarily difficult. This was because
the trade unions insisted on the introduction of a new common pay system
applying to the sector’s blue- and white-collar workers without, at the
same time, introducing more flexible working hours schemes, as demanded by
the employers (AT0410202F [2]). The unions’ goal was eventually reached,
albeit in exchange with a quite moderate pay increase of only 2.5% in both
minimum and actual wages - and without a provision for a company-level
'distribution option' (as laid down in earlier agreements - AT0111229N [3]).
[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/autumn-bargaining-round-opens-against-background-of-rising-unemployment
[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/autumn-bargaining-round-opens
[3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/new-collective-agreements-concluded-in-metalworking
Industrial disputes hit post-war peak in 2003
22 november 2004
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.
Thematic feature - collective agreements on changes in work organisation
21 november 2004
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