"The production union is wrong on so many points," said Siegfried Menz, chairman of the Federal Division of Industry, about the employee representatives and wondered whether the demands of PRO-GE were based on ignorance or a distortion of facts. "This has to stop," said Menz. The former head of the Ottakringer Brewery emphasized in a statement: "The fact is: labor costs in Austria are higher than elsewhere, they are too high. That means: Producing in Austria is too expensive."

Social Partners with Different Interpretations of Wifo Figures

Menz refers to the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (Wifo), according to which Austria has suffered a competitive disadvantage compared to similar economies in the past five years. "Conversely, over the average of the last ten years, productivity in Austria has developed less dynamically than with the most important trading partners," criticized Menz in a statement. Meanwhile, the employee representatives of PRO-GE emphasized yesterday that the increased labor costs were due to the fact that they had previously gone down significantly and that Austria only had a small pharmaceutical industry compared to other countries, which distorted the Wifo comparison. Menz is also bothered by the stakes that the employee representatives set during a press conference yesterday, Tuesday. "It is not acceptable for the employee representation to dictate through the media what is possible in the upcoming collective agreement negotiations and what is not, ahead of the spring wage round. The same applies to PRO-GE: The place for social partnership exchange in collective agreement negotiations is the negotiating table," said Menz.

Fifth Round in Collective Agreement Negotiations for Bus Drivers

The collective agreement (KV) is already being haggled over today, and for the fifth time - albeit in the bus industry. On February 19, there were warning strikes by employees, who were meticulous in ensuring not to disrupt the early school traffic. If no agreement is reached on Wednesday, the strikes will be extended, the transport union vida had warned in advance. Emotions also ran high here after the union vida accused that the protest measures of the union were hindered in some places. "At one location, there were even threats of dismissal until the drivers resumed their work," said vida representative Markus Petritsch in mid-February. The employers' side, in turn, emphasized that the bus operators had already accommodated the drivers and offered a collective agreement increase at the level of the rolling inflation of 3.5 percent. The warning strike affected, among others, ÖBB Postbus, Blaguss, Dr. Richard, sabtours, and Gschwindl. The drivers receive support from climate activists from Fridays For Future and System Change not Climate Change.

(APA/Red)

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