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Austrian It Collective Agreement

The latest amendments to the Working Time Act (AZG) have extended the possibilities for flexible working time arrangements and reserved their implementation for collective agreements. In the meantime, most sectoral collective agreements in Austria contain provisions on flexible working time arrangements. This applies in particular to bandwidth models and flexible schedules. Bandwidth models allow companies to exceed normal working hours in a certain range of fluctuations. B for example up to 44 hours per week, and to reach normal working hours during a certain reference period. In addition, due to exceptions in collective agreements, concrete flexible working time models (such as bandwidth models and flexible working hours) can be agreed at company level by the works council and company management in a company agreement. Under a minimum wage contract originally established in 2017, workers in the highest wage bracket increase their income by 3%, while those in the lowest group receive an increase of up to 5%, retroactive to January 1, 2018 and valid for 12 months. Adoptive fathers or foster fathers are also eligible, as are same-sex partners (adoptive or foster parents). A written agreement with the employer is required; there is no legal right to the family premium period. The works council is the only body in the private sector that represents employees at company level. From a legal point of view, the works council is a body that must be set up in companies in which five or more employees are regularly employed.

He exercises the rights of consultation and co-management of the company, which the law grants to all workers. Works councils can either be set up separately for manual and non-manual workers or represent both categories. A works council is elected by the staff – essentially by all employees of the company who are at least 18 years old – for a five-year term (for all works councils created from 2017 onwards; for existing works councils, the previous four-year term applies) on a proportional representation basis, with the number of board members determined by the size of the workforce. With regard to the information, consultation and co-management rights of the works council, the employer is obliged to discuss regularly with the works council and to keep it informed of labour issues. The most important instrument for shaping the co-management rights of the works council in a certain area of “social” issues is the conclusion of a works council agreement between management and the works council. There is no legal system in Austria to set a uniform national minimum wage. Since 2007, however, the ÖGB Trade Union Confederation and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO) have agreed on a minimum number of collective agreements they have signed. In 2007, this amount was set at €1,000 per month, which should be achieved in early 2009. In June 2017, the two sides agreed on a new target of €1,500 per month, to be reached by the end of 2019.

Although Austria`s social partnership system was openly challenged during the period of the conservative-populist coalition government from 2000 to 2006, Austrian corporatism has largely recovered since the mid-2000s. The country`s collective bargaining system, which takes place almost exclusively at industry and sector level, has continued to function – although as a result of the recent crisis, wage agreements and collective agreements have sometimes only been able to be settled after imminent trade union action – which is unusual in Austria. Since the reintroduction of a conservative-populist coalition government at the end of 2017, it has become clear that the government not only wants to limit the influence of the social partners on policy-making, but also significantly weaken the actors and structures of industrial relations. In Austria, the conclusion of collective agreements is mainly limited to the private sector. Almost without exception, these agreements are negotiated at a cross-sectoral level. Workers` and employees` unions generally form a collective bargaining community, so the agreed wage increases are in most cases the same for both categories of workers. Most sectoral collective agreements cover the entire national territory and, in some cases, are also concluded at national level. Collective agreements are legally binding.

Since the late 1980s, there has been a trend towards the “organized decentralization” of collective bargaining. As a result, the company agreement between the social partners at company level is becoming increasingly important as an instrument for regulating working and employment conditions in the context of the general trend towards greater flexibility, in particular in terms of working time and, to some extent, remuneration. At company level, the works council must participate in the regulation of all social matters within the framework of its social co-management rights; for some, it has a right of codecision “parity”, for others, it can appeal to a conciliation body if no agreement can be concluded with the employer. This committee, composed in equal parts of representatives of both parties, with a judge as neutral president appointed by the competent Labour and Social Court, has the task of trying to reach an agreement between the parties on the matter in question and, if this is not successful, of deciding the case itself. The regulations on shiftwork can be found in the Working Time Act (§4a, 11 and 12), the Rest Period Act (ARG) (§3, 5 and 7) and sectoral collective agreements. The labour inspectorate classifies work as shiftwork if a place of work is occupied by one or more workers alternately on a working day or if the working groups of certain departments of the enterprise are replaced one after the other. Overlapping hours of work can still be considered shiftwork if there is minimal overlap. However, the basic characteristic that several employees take turns in the same workplace must be fulfilled. A new topic concerns the inclusion of work-life balance in collective agreements in recent years. The most common is the recognition of periods of parental leave for salary increases (i.e.

supplements in the pay system) of different durations – from only ten months for the first child (e.B. in the retail trade) to the full duration until the second birthday of each child (e.B. in the banking sector, in the construction industry or in the chemical industry) – and the recognition of periods of parental leave for rights that depend on seniority (e.B. leave, rights, service anniversary bonus) of different durations (e.B. full recognition of all holiday periods in the metallurgical industry). LBG tips from previous transition projects that you should definitely take into account when switching to the new collective agreement: A planned rest period of at least 30 minutes is granted if the daily working time exceeds six hours. In certain circumstances (when it is in the interest of the employee or necessary for operational reasons), the rest period may be divided into two parts of 15 minutes each or three parts of 10 minutes each. A different division of the break may be specified in a company agreement. In establishments without a works council, the labour inspectorate may, on request, grant a different distribution of interruptions; however, each part of the break must be at least 10 minutes long. Workers who work at night are entitled to an additional break of 10 minutes per night. This break is taken into account in working time (i.e.

paid), while the 30-minute break for six hours of work is not taken into account in working time (i.e. unpaid). Special regulations apply to shiftworkers. Workers engaged in work activities requiring the uninterrupted continuation of work are granted “short breaks of a reasonable duration” instead of the rest periods referred to above. .

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