Austria -Collective bargaining is gaining momentum -April 17, 2015

Spring is in the air and the social partners are concluding collective agreements in several sectors. The trade unions and the employers of ORF Online and Teletext GmbH reached an agreement on a 2.1% pay increase (retrospective from 1 January 2015) and a nominal 200 euro off payment. The wood and sawing industries bargaining partners agreed to a 1.95 to 2% wage rise, with a minimum of 35 euro, starting 1 May 2015. In the paper and pulp sector an agreement was reached for 2015 and 2016, with a pay increase for the lowest wage of 1.95% in 2015 and an increase with the inflation rate plus 0.5% in 2016. The sectoral minimum wage reaches the level 1,600 euro as from 1 May 2015. The agreement includes an off-time option; based on a company agreement workers can opt for more spare time instead of wage increase. In the coachbuilder (plus 1.95%) and instrument makers sector (plus 1.85%) comparable agreements were concluded; interestingly the lowest wage scale was removed and all workers in that scale will be placed in the subsequent wage scale.

For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.