Adam, Georg

In the summer of 2006, employees of Austro Control [1] – the national provider of air traffic control and air safety in Austrian airspace (*AT0307203F* [2]) – protested against ‘excessive’ overtime [3] work through a work-to-rule campaign (*AT0609029I* [4]). Significant delays in flight departures at Vienna International Airport (VIA [5]) occurred as a result. In February 2008, the conflict over air traffic controllers’ working conditions flared up once again during the 2008 collective bargaining round. As in 2006, the air traffic controllers were refusing to work ostensibly excessive overtime hours, which they considered would lead to precarious working conditions. The airline most affected by the labour shortage was the Austrian Airlines Group (AUA [6]), the main client of VIA. According to an AUA spokesperson, the national air carrier has recorded considerable delays in flight activities since the beginning of 2008, when the protest action was initiated. [1] http://www.austrocontrol.at/content/acg/austro.shtml [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/restructuring-of-public-services-challenges-union-demarcation-lines [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/overtime [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/agreement-reached-in-dispute-about-overtime-for-air-traffic-controllers [5] http://www.viennaairport.com/jart/prj3/via/website.jart [6] http://www.aua.com/at/deu/austrian/

On 19 December 2007, the parties forming the current so-called grand coalition government – the Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ [1]) and the People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP [2]) – agreed, after difficult and intense negotiations lasting over several weeks, on a draft amendment to the Equal Treatment for Men and Women Act (/Gleichbehandlungsgesetz/, GBG (in German) [3]) (*AT0103209F* [4]). According to the State Secretary for Labour Affairs, Christine Marek of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP [5]), the amendment will bring about numerous improvements for victims of workplace discrimination [6] on the grounds of their gender. This initiative is designed to introduce the provisions of the European Council Directive 2004/113/EC [7] implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services. [1] http://www.spoe.at/ [2] http://www.oevp.at/ [3] http://www.richtervereinigung.at/bgbg.htm [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/social-policies-undefined-industrial-relations/gender-related-pay-differentials-examined [5] http://www.oevp.at/index.aspx?pageid=737 [6] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/discrimination [7] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=32004L0113&model=guichett

In Austria, the 1997 Hospitals’ Working Time Act (Krankenanstalten-Arbeitszeitgesetz, KA-AZG (in German, 50Kb PDF) [1]) restricts the average working week of hospital doctors to a maximum average of 48 hours. The working week may be extended to a maximum of 60 hours in a single week, provided that the normal working week does not exceed the 48 hours’ average over a specific reference period. In addition, the individual working day must not exceed a maximum of 13 hours. However, the KA-AZG also provides for the possibility of extending these working hours through a company-level works agreement [2]. In this respect, the law provides for working time [3] limits as follows: a maximum of 60 working hours a week on average, with a maximum of 72 hours in a single working week; a maximum of 32 hours during the working week and of 49 hours during weekend work, including rest periods that have to be observed for each period of service. [1] http://www.bmwa.gv.at/NR/rdonlyres/731D26A6-A91E-4AFE-B13A-95F763D32653/0/KrankenanstaltenArbeitszeitgesetz.pdf [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/efemiredictionary/works-agreement [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/working-time

Since 1 January 2008, about 65,000 workers with a ‘free service contract’ (/freier Dienstvertrag/) are covered by a new social security [1] law and therefore have the same social protection as ‘standard’ dependent employees in many respects. This is the outcome of a series of amendments to social security legislation, which aimed to substantially improve the social protection [2] of this group of workers with an atypical work [3] contract. The Austrian parliament endorsed these legislative amendments on 4 December 2007. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/social-security [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/social-protection [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/atypical-work

Since the early 2000s, corporate social responsibility [1] (CSR) has been a particular focus of debate in Austria. This is mainly due to financial scandals in the US and – to a lesser extent – in Europe during the late 1990s, which have in turn generally reduced the public’s trust in business proceedings. In 2002, after some CSR initiatives had separately rather than jointly been launched by organised labour and business, the voluntary Austrian Corporate Governance Code came into force. The code primarily, albeit not exclusively, targets enterprises that are listed on the Viennese stock exchange and lays down principles of good corporate governance [2]. According to the preamble of the code, this voluntary initiative is designed to ‘reinforce the confidence of investors by improving reporting transparency and the quality of cooperation between supervisory board, management board and shareholders, and by taking long-term “value creation” into account’ (*AT0502204F* [3]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/corporate-social-responsibility [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/corporate-governance [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/social-partners-debate-corporate-social-responsibility

No statutory or collectively agreed uniform definition exists of telework [1] in Austria. This is related to the fact that the issue of telework is not regulated in a systematic and consistent way by Austrian legislation but in a rather occasional and marginal manner by different laws. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/telework

In July 2007, the national-level social partner organisations – that is, the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB [1]) and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKO [2]) – agreed on the introduction of a gross monthly minimum pay rate of €1,000. This agreement is to be implemented by the sectoral bargaining parties by 1 January 2009 at the latest (*AT0707019I* [3]). [1] http://www.oegb.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OEGBZ/Page/OEGBZ_Index&n=OEGBZ_0 [2] http://portal.wko.at/wk/startseite.wk [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/social-partners-agree-to-minimum-wage-increase

On 30 October 2007, the two sectoral trade unions and the branch subunits of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKO [1]) signed a follow-up collective agreement covering about 164,000 metalworking employees. The two trade unions involved were the Union of Salaried Employees, Printing Workers and Journalists (Gewerkschaft der Privatangestellten, Druck, Journalismus, Papier, GPA-DJP [2]) and the Metalworking, Textiles and Food-Processing Union (Gewerkschaft Metall, Textil, Nahrung, GMTN [3]). The compromise reached between the social partners was a result of three intensive negotiation rounds, the last of which continued for 17 hours. [1] http://portal.wko.at/wk/startseite.wk [2] http://www.gpa-djp.at/ [3] http://www.gmtn.at/

On 2 October 2007, Austria’s main social partner organisations presented a joint employment programme which is designed to substantially reform the country’s vocational training [1] and qualification system. This programme ensued from intense and long-lasting negotiations between the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB [2]) and the Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer, AK [3]) on the employees’ side and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, WKÖ [4]) and the Standing Committee of the Presidents of the Chambers of Agriculture (Präsidentenkonferenz der Landwirtschaftskammern, PKLWK [5]) on the employers’ side. The employment programme, entitled ‘Labour market – Future 2010 (in German, 171Kb PDF) [6], contains a variety of proposals for meeting the business demand for skilled labour on the one hand and securing a high level of youth employment on the other hand. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/vocational-training [2] http://www.oegb.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OEGBZ/Page/OEGBZ_Index&n=OEGBZ_0 [3] http://www.arbeiterkammer.at/www-18.html [4] http://portal.wko.at/wk/startseite.wk [5] http://www.landwirtschaftskammer.at/netautor/napro4/appl/na_professional/parse.php?mlay_id=20000&xmlval_ID_KEY[0]=2000 [6] http://www.sozialpartner.at/sozialpartner/20071001_Sozialpartner MaßnahmenpaketArbeitsmarkt_vorläufigeEndversion.pdf

On 2 October 2007, the responsible ministries of the coalition government of the Social-Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ [1]) and the conservative Austrian People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei, ÖVP [2]) managed, after several months of intense negotiations, to agree on a draft amendment to the current childcare [3] benefit scheme (/Kinderbetreuungsgeld/). The draft was endorsed by a majority vote in parliament on 17 October 2007 and will come into effect on 1 January 2008. [1] http://www.spoe.at/ [2] http://www.oevp.at/index.aspx?pageid=737 [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/childcare