List of demands

ÖGB calls on future government to act

The expansion of childcare would reduce the proportion of women working part-time.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/mattegg - stock.adobe.com)

An extensive list of demands is intended to bring the new state government into line with the ÖGB: An increase in social benefits, more affordable housing, fair wages and one-class instead of two-class medicine. 

The ÖGB is not holding back with its demands to the new provincial government, which has not yet been formed. However, if what is currently looming becomes reality, namely a coalition between the ÖVP and FPÖ, then the union's list of demands could quickly become a mere wish list, as the basic attitudes of ÖGB boss Reinhard Stemmer and Freedom Party leader Christof Bitschi have not shown much overlap in the past. It is more than questionable whether this will change now.

Basic security for children
In any case, the ÖGB is concerned with getting the country to invest more - in several areas at once. Firstly, there is the fight against poverty. For example, social benefits should be "raised to a poverty-proof level." Stemmer wants children to have their own basic security. This goes hand in hand with the demand for an offensive in affordable housing, including a further increase in housing benefit. The ÖGB is also hoping for a vacancy tax for private apartments, which would really serve to "reduce vacancies". Stemmer is also calling on the state government to push ahead with a "massive expansion of all-day schools including afternoon care as well as kindergarten places and playgroups". The municipalities should also receive more money to be able to hire the necessary staff.

Staff are urgently needed in the care sector.

(Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

In order to counteract the shortage of skilled workers, the ÖGB is calling for fair wages and better working conditions - the keyword being a reduction in working hours. This could lead to a "pull effect", which would also attract skilled workers from abroad to Vorarlberg. Furthermore, nursing staff should be paid better, more training places and higher training allowances are needed, and a recalculation of the care ratio in nursing homes is also urgently required. And when it comes to healthcare, Stemmer is calling for every doctor to be given a health insurance contract in order to "reduce" the system of elective doctors. In addition, 15 new primary care centers are to be built in the region by 2030. It remains to be seen how willing the state government will be to invest in the coming years.