Image: ROBERT JAEGER (APA)
On Monday, the employers offered a wage and salary increase of 2.5 percent and a tax- and duty-free one-off payment of 1,050 euros. The union is “angry” about the offer and is now planning works council conferences. The employee representatives are demanding an 11.6 percent increase in wages and salaries.
The KV offer is based on the average growth of the industry in recent years (nominal gross value added), according to a press release from the Metal Technology Industry Association (FMTI). According to the employer, the offer brings “a net increase in purchasing power of an average of 7 percent” for employees in the industry, taking tax relief into account. “The unions are unfortunately inflexible at the moment,” said FMTI chairman Christian Knill. The union measures now planned are “to be accepted, but they do not change the economic reality.”
The union rejects the employers’ offer. “2.5 percent is disrespectful and means a massive, permanent loss of real wages,” criticized the union chief negotiators, Reinhold Binder (PRO-GE) and Karl Dürtscher (GPA). The FMTI’s offer of 2.5 percent is “well below the relevant inflation rate of 9.6 percent” and the additional one-off payment offered can “never compensate for the massive loss of real wages.”
The unions now want to inform the works councils of the entire metal industry in seven regional conferences from October 12th to 16th about the negotiations and suggest calling works meetings.
The KV round is overshadowed by the recession warning from the economic institutes Wifo and IHS. Economists are expecting a “mild recession” this year with continued high inflation and a slight upswing with significantly low inflation next year.
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