Flexibility in exchange for wage increase. “Anything’s possible, because the situation hadn’t been that stuck in a long time” declared Hermann Haslauer, negotiator for employers, the day after the third negotiation round failed in Austrian metalworking failed. Rainer Wimmer, leader of the GMTN, said that “employers are using the crisis against employees” by trying, at all costs, to couple wage increases with flexibility and to extend the agreement to two years instead of one, to allow businesses to organize themselves more safely. Unions, willing to discuss flexible working time on the side while pointing out that there are already many company agreements on this topic, are completely opposed to coupling the two claims. They think that employers’ claim is a concealed wage cut. Indeed, employers want working time “corridors” extended up and down, which would lead to removing most of the extra payments for overtime.
rs are using the crisis against employees” by trying, at all costs, to couple wage increases with flexibility and to extend the agreement to two years instead of one, to allow businesses to organize themselves more safely. Unions, willing to discuss flexible working time on the side while pointing out that there are already many company agreements on this topic, are completely opposed to coupling the two claims. They think that employers’ claim is a concealed wage cut. Indeed, employers want wo
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