Trade union boss

“Politicians have taken a foolish approach”

Reinhold Binder was Deputy Mayor of his home municipality of Micheldorf from 2014 to 2017. He has been head of the PRO-GE trade union since June 2023.(Bild: Dostal Harald)

(Bild: GEORG HOCHMUTH)

(Bild: Dostal Harald)

They could "go to shit" with one-off payments, union boss Reinhold Binder told employers in the fall - he called this "situation-elastic language elegance". The Micheldorfer is also quite clear in the "Krone" interview ahead of the spring wage round starting on Tuesday.

OÖ-"Krone": Do we have to get ready for warning strikes again in the spring wage round like in the fall?
Reinhold Binder: The record inflation rate of 9.6 percent was a bit of a poison cocktail for the fall wage round. It was the toughest labor dispute in the last 60 years. Of course, politics also played its part because the fight against inflation didn't go down well with people. That's something you have to take with you now, because the situation hasn't really eased yet.

But inflation has already fallen.
I would like to see an inflation rate like in Europe, at 2.3 percent, but we now have an inflation rate of 6.8 percent over the past twelve months.

According to experts, high wage agreements drive prices up even more. A vicious circle?
It's the other way around: prices are the first to rise, wages follow later. Cheap food, for example, has become 42 percent more expensive within two years. The industries in the spring wage round have also posted record results in recent years. The electrical and electronics industries in particular have been the transformation winners.

Spring wage round

The spring wage round in the industry begins on March 12. The electrical and electronics industry (60,000 employees) and the paper industry (8,000) will start. The textile industry (7500) follows on March 19, the chemical industry (50,000) on April 4 and the glass industry with 7000 employees on May 7.

The union has called for a brake on electricity prices and an excess profits tax to reduce inflation. The federal government has introduced both.
That's completely wrong.

It's not wrong.
Let me be more specific: Two years ago, we even introduced a nine-point program as social partners with measures that would have to be introduced in order to quickly get the inflation rate under control. None of this has been implemented at all. The only one was the "rent brake" - a very patchy sieve.

We are concerned with sustainable wage increases. One-off payments are the chives on the bread and butter.

Reinhold Binder, Bundesvorsitzender Gewerkschaft PRO-GE

Experts warn that high wage settlements weaken the competitiveness of industry, which is particularly export-oriented in Upper Austria. Ultimately, this also harms the employees.
That is one point of view, which can be appreciated. The other is that it is important for a regional economy to strengthen purchasing power. That's also what we're aiming to do in the spring wage round. Last year, we exported almost 200 billion euros worth of goods and vehicles abroad. The Austrian industrial and production location is completely attractive. We just need to develop prospects now, and politicians should also support this process with location policy. But that is not happening at the moment. Otherwise the politicians would not have been so foolish that - after we had the toughest wage round in 60 years - in December the public procurement authority released 1000 (Chinese, note) BYD vehicles for the Austrian authorities. It has long been a requirement that products with Austrian or European added value are processed.

Binder during the "toughest labor dispute in 60 years" with demonstrating metalworkers in the fall(Bild: GEORG HOCHMUTH)

Unemployment has recently risen again. Can companies no longer afford the wage increases?
It's not because of the wages. We have a need for skilled workers, so we need to invest in the future now and declare 2024 the year of apprenticeships.

What will you say if the employers propose one-off payments again in the spring wage round?
We are concerned with sustainable wage increases. One-off payments are like chives on bread and butter.