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At the first meeting of the negotiators, the union demanded an 11 percent increase in salaries, more vacation and a discussion about a general reduction in working hours. The employers pointed to declining sales figures in retail, but they have not yet submitted a concrete offer.
After the first, fruitless round of negotiations on October 24th, the union tried to increase the pressure with works meetings. From November 2nd up to and including November 8th, company meetings took place in more than 250 retail establishments throughout Austria. The employee representatives not only want to achieve inflation compensation, but also an increase in real salaries. From October 2022 to September 2023, inflation was 9.2 percent. According to a flash estimate from Statistics Austria, consumer prices in October were 5.4 percent higher than a year ago.
Two thirds of commercial employees are women
But inflation is not only causing purchasing power to melt away: in the period from January to September 2023, retail in Austria recorded a nominal increase in sales of 3.7 percent compared to the same period last year, but in real terms – i.e. adjusted for prices – this amounts to a minus of 3. 5 percent.
- Lowest level since January 2022: Inflation fell to 5.4 percent in October
Almost two thirds of the 430,000 retail employees in Austria are women; in retail the proportion of women is even higher. Almost 60 percent of women in retail work part-time, while the part-time rate for men is only around 13 percent.
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Source: Nachrichten
