6.76 vs. 8.5 percent

Still no agreement on new collective agreement for the IT sector

The eighth round of negotiations did not result in an agreement on a new collective agreement for the IT sector (symbolic image).

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

The 2024 collective agreement for the IT sector has still not been signed and sealed. The social partners were still unable to reach an agreement in the eighth round of negotiations. According to GPA chief negotiator Sandra Steiner, there is no "socially acceptable and fair offer".

The employers had offered an increase of 6.76 percent for actual salaries, which is one percent below annual inflation. Only the minimum salaries are to be increased by 7.8 percent, which corresponds to rolling inflation.

The trade union, on the other hand, is demanding an increase in actual and minimum salaries of 8.5 percent. For Martin Zandonella, the chief negotiator on the employers' side, this is "incomprehensible." He also criticized the fact that the union had not taken up the proposal for a two-year agreement. The union is "only moving in homeopathic doses", which is why "constructive negotiations are difficult to impossible".

The union is only moving in homeopathic doses.

Martin Zandonella, IT-Verhandlungsführer

Demo last Wednesday
Around 90,000 employees are affected by the IT collective agreement. Around 2000 of them protested in front of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber in Vienna on Wednesday. The trade union GPA pointed out the high level of inflation. Companies have a duty to support their employees and exert pressure on the government.

The next negotiation date is February 15. In most other sectors, it was much quicker to reach an agreement. Most recently, almost all sectors concluded with a wage and salary increase of over eight percent.