Tyrol's Fritz List:

“Education allowance cut attack on employees”

Symbolic image

(Bild: thinkstockphotos.de)

The Fritz list criticizes the planned income limits for the education allowance. Club chairman Markus Sint says: "The Mattle government is making savings in the wrong place!"

Markus Sint, the chairman of the Fritz list in the Tyrolean state parliament, describes the education allowance, which has been made available to Tyroleans via labor market subsidies, as an "accurate subsidy that has been well received". "This support is good for the business location, because well-trained employees are our greatest asset. We are talking about people who sit in a course three times a week until 10 p.m. instead of on the couch and who use their free time for further education."

The opposition politician is now criticizing the "Education allowance update new" directive, which should have recently been approved by the Employee Promotion Advisory Board.

This is an attack on employees, companies and the business location.

Markus Sint

Bild: Birbaumer Christof

"Anyone earning more than 1629 euros gets nothing"
The black-red state government did not push the resolution through for the time being. According to Sint, this is a good thing, because "this is an attack on employees, companies and the business location". What annoys the club chairman are the "far too low income limits that the ÖVP and SPÖ want to introduce".

The politician also makes a concrete calculation: "For a single person, the limit is a household income of 1900 euros net, twelve times a year. Sounds better than it is, because the 13th and 14th month's salary are also included. So in real terms we are talking about 1629 euros net, 14 times a year! Anyone who earns more will lose out on the subsidy!"

Mattle, Wohlgemuth and co. can then save themselves their Sunday speeches in which they tearfully lament the shortage of skilled workers.

Markus Sint

Bild: Birbaumer Christof

Sint also brings the at-risk-of-poverty threshold into play for better comparison. "This currently stands at 1572 euros. Funding for skilled workers who are undergoing training cannot be based on the at-risk-of-poverty level!"

"Stopping this would be nonsensical and stupid"
The politician shakes his head, saying that it would be "stupid and nonsensical" to "stifle" the education allowance update funding with these excessively tight income limits. "The black-red Mattle government is making savings in completely the wrong place here and is hitting the wrong people, namely those in the country who are willing to work hard," Sint points out.

In conclusion, the club chairman says that "Mattle, Wohlgemuth and co. can then save themselves their Sunday speeches, where they tearfully lament the shortage of skilled workers" and points out that the existing directive is only valid until the end of the year. A revision for the benefit of the location is therefore urgently needed.