Austria: trade partners agree on wage increases between 1.5 and 1.8%

When presenting the terms of the wage agreement negotiated for the 570,000 workers in trade (including wholesale pharmaceutical trade), Manfred Wolf, negotiator for the GPA union, is mostly happy because the increase is 1.5% higher than that obtained a few days earlier by metalworkers (1.5%), who usually set the tone for collective agreements in Austria. In fact, the negotiated increase amounts to 1.5% but with a maximum limit of at least 22 euros a month. For the sector’s low wages, the real increase may go up to 1.8%. As for the 16,000 apprentices, they get an increase between 2 and 2.2%. Fritz Aichinger, employers’ negotiator for the Austrian Economic Chamber, which represents 400,000 employers in the sector and is allowed to carry out collective negotiations, said that the result was a “fair compromise” taking account of inflation below 1% and a 1.3% drop in businesses’ sales between January and October 2009. He also rejoiced with the provision negotiated for low wages. With this result, the wage increase should be close to that of 2008. At the time, employees got a 3.6% wage increase while inflation amounted to 3.2%. on the contrary, the Trade Association (Handelsverband), which gathers 150 large businesses in the sector, judged that unions and the Economic Chamber misread the true situation of an Austrian economy whose hardly positive progress is only due to State aid: “In trade, the trough of the wave isn’t over” declared Stephan Meyer-Heinisch, leader of the Handelsverband, who blames the social partners for lacking clairvoyance.