Austria: collective bargaining starts in the trade industry

The biggest collective negotiations of the year, in the trade industry, started on Tuesday, October 15 in Vienna.  For the sector’s 500,000 employees, the GPA-djp union wants a wage increase of at least 3 percent and a minimum wage increase from €1,400 up to €1,500 gross.  Like last year, the union is hoping to make progress on the issue of access to the 6th week of annual leave.  Whereas GPA-djp believes that there is “substance to share,” employers’ representatives point to the fact that 50 percent of the sector’s businesses are in the red.  Other bone of contention: the social partners are using different inflation rates.  So a lot of things need to be straightened before these negotiations, for which 3 meetings are planned, can truly start.  (Ref.  130619)
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Substance to share? The social partners in the biggest sector in Austria in terms of staffing launched their annual collective negotiations on October 15 in Vienna. They cover 534,000 employees (17,600 apprentices) for an agreement that will be in force in 2014. the GPA-djp union wants sectoral minimum wage to be raised from €1,400 today up to €1,500 before tax, and a “decent wage increase” for the other employees. In Austrian union lingo, this means an increase taking account of the produc

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