Two of Austria’s key economic sectors have just renewed their respective sector’s collective agreements. The Chemicals sector (45,000 workers) signed theirs on April 24 and the Hotel & Catering sector (200,000 workers) signed theirs on May 07. The chemicals sector, cognizant of weak economic conditions agreed a 2.45% rise in wages to be spread over two years, an unusually long period for a collective agreement in Austria. For its part, Austria’s most important sector, hotels & catering, has agreed on the introduction of a fixed wage, as of May 01, to replace the controversial variable pay system that has been in operation up until now. For this sector the average wage floor increase is set at 2.35% annual over one year.
Austria’s chemical industry taking the Germanic ‘long view’. With a long tradition of social partnership, Austria is not familiar with abrupt changes in social relations practices. Nevertheless progressive change ahs been coming about in the area of collective agreements. Previously the metals industry unions’ negotiations would have been the source of change but nowadays it is in the chemical industry (45,000 employees) that change often originates.
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