After the railway workers, the Austrians could face the next strike, namely on December 2nd and 3rd, i.e. Friday and Saturday of this week, in retail. The Upper Austrian branch chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, Ernst Wiesinger, considers it “quite possible” that there will be a strike. He finds these “threatening gestures” “inappropriate and also not sensible” because they would not lead to an improvement in the situation, but shows understanding that the 430,000 employees of the single, large and automotivetrade have a right to cost-of-living compensation.
The union demands a salary increase of 8.5 percent with a minimum of 200 euros. The employers are proposing a tax-free bonus, most of which is to be paid out to employees this year, and are offering a 5 percent increase on the collectively agreed minimum wage. The union rejects one-off payments and wants to see decent salary increases in view of the high inflation.
Wiesinger assumes that the large trading companies and chains would be more affected by the strike, since they are better unionized. Nevertheless, even small retailers are already very nervous because they fear for one of their important Christmas shopping Saturdays.
Unofficially, the unions say they are assuming a strike. The approval of the ÖGB has already been obtained. However, it should be a warning strike of a few hours each. To what extent this will actually be felt by consumers cannot yet be estimated. According to the union, there are more than 300 companies that have decided to go on strike from local works meetings. These include large retail chains – also from the food industry -, textile chains, booksellers, wholesalers and hardware stores. “Should the negotiation burst today, works meetings can be held at any time, which will then turn into warning strikes,” said union chief negotiator Helga Fichtinger. Initially, only companies that have a works council would be included. But the right to strike also provides opportunities for employees of trading companies without a works council.
Source: Nachrichten
