Austria’s most important collective negotiations of the year are the Metal industry talks and this year they got off to what the unions termed an unprecedented ‘bang’. On Thursday 24th September the Association of Machinery & Metalware Industries (FMMI) federation (the biggest of the six employers’ bodies involved in the annual autumn negotiations) halted negotiations the moment they started for a most unexpected reason. As a precursor to the talks the FMMI requested that the Federal government abandon the idea of extending access to the 6th week of holidays. Both the Manufacturing Union (Pro.ge) and the Union of Salaried Employees, Graphical Workers and Journalists (GPA.djp) view this extraneous demand as ‘hostage taking’ and an ‘attack on the rules of the system of collective negotiations.” Preparations for strike action are set for Tuesday 29 September when the heads of the sectors works councils will come together to consult.
Deaf ear syndrome continues. Since 2012 the six business leaders federations in a sector employing 180,000 have imposed six separate negotiations rather than just one for the whole sector and the atmosphere just keeps on deteriorating. Since 2013 Austrian business leaders have been looking to conclude an agreement on flexible working time “in order to better respond to the sector’s demand led cyclical nature.”
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