All sectors are on strike, from bookstores to large fashion chains to supermarkets, said GPA chief negotiator Helga Fichtinger on Thursday. This means that the warning strikes come right at the start of Advent.
On Thursday morning, retail employees at Interspar and Thalia in the Vienna Donauzentrum stopped their work for a few hours. In contrast to a strike, a warning strike is limited in time. The union does not want to publish a list of the companies on strike – on the one hand because of the surprise effect, on the other hand because the employers would try to intimidate employees and ask them not to take part in the strike, said Fichtinger on Ö1.”Morning Journal” of the ORF.
Handels-KV one of the largest collective agreements in Austria
Employer chief negotiator Rainer Trefelik contradicts this: “If there is any wrongdoing, please say clearly there is a problem here. But simply raising a general suspicion according to the method, something will stick, that must be rejected decisively.”
- more on the subject: Metaller-KV: Agreement or escalation on Thursday?
On Tuesday, talks about a new salary agreement in trade failed again in the fourth round. At first it looked quite good, but ultimately the social partners’ ideas were still too far apart. While employers originally offered a salary increase of 5 percent and a one-off payment of 800 euros, it is now 6 percent and a one-off bonus of 1,000 euros. The union also moved and reduced its demand from 9.5 percent and a fixed amount of 40 euros per month to 9.4 percent plus a fixed amount of 15 euros. However, the employee representatives reject one-off payments.
The Handels-KV is one of the largest collective agreements in Austria and affects around 430,000 employees and apprentices in retail, wholesale and motor vehicle trade. 70 percent of all employees in retail are women. More than a third of them work part-time.
A new meeting date has not yet been set.
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