Analog life

Pensioners want anti-discrimination body

Older people are often discriminated against in the digital world

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

Pensioners' representatives are taking a further step against age discrimination and the exclusion of older people from digital life. In the "Krone" newspaper, the pensioners' association proposes the establishment of an anti-age discrimination office for the whole of Austria.

Since the "Krone" has reported intensively on "age discrimination", "countless people have contacted the pensioners' association and told us how they feel excluded and discriminated against", reports the PVÖ. President Peter Kostelka is calling on the next federal government to set up an anti-age discrimination office for the whole of Austria. At present, only one federal state - Styria - has such an office.

Pensioners' representative Peter Kostelka (SPÖ)

(Bild: SEPA.Media | Michael Indra)

 "Since the pensioners' association has focused on the issue of age discrimination, the phones have been ringing off the hook and older people from all over Austria are constantly coming forward to report on their experiences and discrimination. The creation of a nationwide anti-discrimination office is essential. The next federal government would be well advised to create this institution," says Kostelka.

The pensioners' association also proposes that - similar to the equal treatment report - there should be an annual report on age discrimination to the National Council from this anti-discrimination body. Such a report to the legislator should form the basis for measures to be taken to prevent any form of age discrimination.

The public sector as a bad role model
Kostelka criticizes the fact that the public sector in particular is one of the main perpetrators of age discrimination, with a number of bad examples. The online-only processing requirement for the repair and tradesman bonus, the get-out-of-oil-and-gas subsidies and the federal treasury investment excludes a large number of older people who do not have access to the digital world from these benefits.

Age discrimination must come to an end
"A clear case of age discrimination," says Kostelka and concludes: "It is time to eliminate this and other forms of age discrimination in society, the economy, in banking and insurance, in the world of work, in public administration and in politics. A nationwide anti-age discrimination office can make a significant contribution to this."