Debt struggle

State of Salzburg cuts 100 positions

Provincial personnel councillor Josef Schwaiger (ÖVP) is now turning the red pencil on: 25 posts will be cut this year, with 75 more to follow. Next week, the government will set the budget for 2025. One thing is certain: there will have to be further drastic cuts. . . 

This letter packs a punch! All employees of the provincial administration received an unpleasant email from provincial councillor Josef Schwaiger (ÖVP) on Tuesday afternoon.

The message is available to the "Krone". Schwaiger writes: "Due to the current and obviously also medium-term situation, the budget negotiations have led to the current number of employees having to be reduced by 100 FTEs." By FTEs, Schwaiger means "full-time equivalents". In other words, the state wants to cut 100 positions over the next few years.

According to the letter, the job cuts are to take place in several stages, with 25 posts to be eliminated this year. In concrete terms, the aim is to make significant savings in the number of new appointments. The email also states that it is necessary to "reduce staffing levels to a slightly higher level than at the beginning of 2022".

Staff representatives are angry and furious

Talks were held between Schwaiger and the staff representatives on Tuesday. They discussed a previously promised reduction in working hours to 38.5 hours per week. However, Schwaiger demanded that the upcoming pay rise for civil servants should be far lower than calculated. An absurdity for the staff representatives of the FCG and FSG: they unanimously wanted a reduction only with full wage compensation. Josef Sailer from the FSG is furious: "Politicians have created one department after the other and created positions for government employees. Now suddenly there's no more money."

Next week, the state government will meet for a budget retreat. The office of Governor Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP) says: "There will certainly have to be savings."