Shortly before Christmas

Retail collective agreement: trade union announces industrial action

Chief negotiator Veronika Arnost (GPA) and federal sector chairman Rainer Trefelik (WKÖ) have not yet found a green branch.

(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

Following another failure to reach an agreement on Thursday in the negotiations regarding the increase in the collective wage agreement for the retail sector, tough measures are now being prepared. The trade union announced that it would be taking industrial action just in time for the Christmas shopping season. 

The third round of collective bargaining for the retail sector ended on Thursday without an agreement. In the evening, the union announced regional works council conferences for next Wednesday with the decision to take industrial action. At the same time, a further round of negotiations has been agreed for November 21.

Chamber tries to stonewall
Rainer Trefelik, Chairman of the Federal Trade Division of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, pointed out in a press release after the end of today's round of negotiations that the employers had made an offer for a two-year collective agreement (CBA).

This would have provided for a collective agreement increase of 3.1 percent for 2025 - the relevant inflation rate is 3.8 percent. For 2026, the employers then offered the inflation rate plus 0.5 percent as salary increases - but only if the relevant inflation rate at that time is below two percent.

430,000 employees are worried about their pay rise - they are now announcing strike action for the all-important Christmas period.

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

Offer a "provocation" for the union
The chief negotiator of the GPA trade union, Veronika Arnost, described the offer as a "provocation" in a press release in the evening. The offer was too low and "would mean that all the risks of the current crisis would be passed on to the employees". All forecasts predict an inflation rate of well over 2 percent for the coming year.

Combat measures "not our wish"
"It was not our wish that there would be industrial action during the Christmas period," said Arnost. However, further measures are now to be decided by works councils next Wednesday.

"The most recent works meetings have impressively shown that the employees expect more and are also prepared to fight for a fair deal," writes Martin Müllauer, Chairman of the GPA trade division, in the union statement.

Trefelik: Too high a plus would be "too much"
Trefelik regretted that the union was demanding a higher settlement than that offered by the employers. However, "in the current situation, which continues to be characterized by falling sales and rising costs, such a deal would be too much for domestic retail companies. In view of the many closures and insolvencies that we are already seeing in the retail sector and the associated job losses, this cannot be in the interests of the trade union," says Trefelik. The WKÖ is also calling for a fundamental reform of the retail collective agreement.

Negotiations could drag on
Rainer Will, Managing Director of the Austrian Retail Association, regretted in a press release "that the trade union continues to fail to recognize the challenging situation in the retail sector and shows little willingness to compromise despite generous concessions from employers to compensate employees for a good part of the inflation".

The collective agreement applies to more than 430,000 retail employees. Last year's negotiations also proved to be extremely tough and lasted until after Christmas.