The salaries of the 430,000 retail employees will increase by 7 percent and at least 145 euros. This means an average increase in salaries of 7.31 percent. The minimum amount means an increase of up to 8.67 percent,” the union wrote in the broadcast.
Since eleven in the morning, the social partners have been haggling over a salary agreement in round five of the negotiations. As reported, today’s round was decisive as to whether or not there was a threat of industrial action in retail in the middle of Advent. If no agreement had been reached, the retail employees would have stopped work on Friday and Saturday – in the middle of the busy Advent season.
The union originally had one Salary increase of 8.5 percent with a minimum amount of 200 euros. Low salaries would then have increased by a double-digit percentage. The employers, on the other hand, proposed a tax-free bonus, most of which should be paid out to employees this year, and offered a five percent increase on the collectively agreed minimum wage.
The Handels-KV is one of the largest collective agreements in Austria and affects around 430,000 employees and apprentices in the retail, wholesale and motor trade. 70 percent of all employees in retail are women. More than a third of them work part-time.
Source: Nachrichten
