Austria: metal employers offer a 2.8 percent wage increase along with a working time increase

“Employers are not taking us seriously.  We can’t bargain like this.  They offer a wage increase if we make compromises on other points.  It’s like they’re giving us €100 and taking €50” Rainer Wimmer, leader of the PRO.GE metalworkers’ union, declared on Friday after the 3rd collective bargaining meeting with the FMMI, the sector’s key employers’ organization.  Wimmer announced that his organization and the GPA-djp private sector union were going to summon the sector’s 800 WCs to think about the procedure to follow before the next meeting on October 18.  Employers condition the 2.8 percent wage increase to an employment pact, and unions refuse to discuss working time with a single employers’ organization, even the largest.  Unlike what has been going on for 40 years, for the first time, the 6 sectoral employers’ organizations are negotiating collective agreements individually with unions (see our dispatch No.  120532).
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ive bargaining meeting with the FMMI, the sector’s key employers’ organization. Wimmer announced that his organization and the GPA-djp private sector union were going to summon the sector’s 800 WCs to think about the procedure to follow before the next meeting on October 18. Employers condition the 2.8 percent wage increase to an employment pact, and unions refuse to discuss working time with a single employers’ organization, even the largest. Unlike what has been going on for 40 years, for

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