1st round without result

Employees demand more money AND more free time

Retail employees want more money and more free time.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com (Symbolbild))

At the start of the collective bargaining negotiations for around 445,000 employees and apprentices in the retail sector, positions were still far apart on Wednesday. The trade union GPA is demanding a 4.8 percent pay rise from January as well as more time off, but this is out of the question for the employers. The next round of negotiations will take place on November 5.

The employers' offer is "still a long way from what the employees in the retail sector expect and urgently need", according to Veronika Arnost, chief negotiator for the GPA.

Chief negotiator Veronika Arnost (GPA) and federal sector chairman Rainer Trefelik (WKÖ)

(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

However, they are prepared to "continue on the path of constructive negotiations", added Martin Müllauer, Chairman of the GPA trade division.

Employers' side: "Good basis for talks"
After the first round, Rainer Trefelik, head of the trade sector, spoke of a "good basis for talks", but in view of the difficult economic situation for the companies, called on the employee side to "rendezvous with reality". The consequence of the crisis in which the retail sector finds itself can only be "that wage increases at this level are simply not economically feasible", emphasized the employers' chief negotiator.

The demand for a 4.8 percent pay rise corresponds to one percent more than the rolling inflation rate and the metal industry agreement. In any case, the employers had ruled out an increase above the annual inflation rate of 3.8 percent.

Trade union demands more pay AND more time off
In addition to the wage increase, the employee representatives are also demanding more time off. For Trefelik, this is not an option. I don't think it's possible to reach an agreement above the inflation rate of the past twelve months," he said before the start of negotiations at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. To say that the employees need more income, but at the same time demand more time off, "I'm missing the bridge".

Trefelik referred to the general recession and consumers' reluctance to spend. "We are running out of costs," he emphasized, calculating that sales recently increased by 9.8 percent, while personnel costs rose by 21.3 percent. "And the outlook is not great," said Trefelik.

Veronika Arnost, on the other hand, pointed out how important proper contracts are for domestic consumption - and that the industry is not one of the high-wage sectors anyway. Added to this is the constantly increasing work pressure. An agreement above the rolling inflation rate of 3.8 percent and more time off is therefore more than justified. For example, three days off are to be added after five years of service, a further two days after seven years of service and an additional day off after ten years.

Four negotiation dates already set
After last year's collective bargaining negotiations in the retail sector took an unusually long time and were also accompanied by industrial action by employees, the social partners have already set four negotiation dates for this year as a precaution, the last of which would be November 21 - which means that the Christmas business could run undisturbed if an agreement is reached. The retail sector is the largest employer in Austria after the public sector, most recently generating an annual turnover of 314 billion euros.