No Breakthrough in Collective Agreement Negotiations for the Electrical Industry

The third round of collective bargaining negotiations for the approximately 60,000 employees in the electrical and electronics industry ended without a result on Wednesday. The unions PRO-GE and GPA subsequently announced a nationwide conference of works council members in Schwechat on May 7th, where the further course of action will be decided, the two unions announced on Wednesday evening.

"Disrespectful Devaluation"

The employee representatives pointed to the relevant inflation rate for the negotiation of 2.76 percent. According to the unions, the offer from the Association of the Electrical and Electronics Industry (FEEI) was instead at 1 percent. "The offer is a disrespectful devaluation of the hard work of the employees," emphasize Reinhold Binder and Karl Dürtscher from PRO-GE and GPA. "The signs are now pointing to conflict, and union measures are no longer ruled out."

The association as the employer representative, on the other hand, already pointed to the high costs for the labor factor after the second round of negotiations. "We are no longer competitive. The increased personnel costs can often no longer be passed on to customers," FEEI chairman Wolfgang Hesoun was quoted in a statement.

Collective Bargaining Negotiations for the Electrical Industry Continue on May 9th

The demands of the employee representatives are not limited to "fair wage and salary increases." In addition, the allowance for the second shift should be increased to 1.50 per hour and to 5 euros per hour for the third shift. Easier access to the sixth week of vacation and the continuation of the leisure option are further demands of the unionists. The next negotiation date has been set for May 9th. The new collective agreement should already be effective from May 1st.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.