Metaller-KV: Fifth round of negotiations started in Salzburg
After the failure of the fourth round, the metalworkers’ unions had put pressure on with warning strikes. Employers are proactive and show that an agreement can be reached today.
(Archive photo)
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Vienna – On Saturday at 2 p.m., the fifth round of collective agreement negotiations of the metal technology industry started in Eugendorf in the state of Salzburg. The trade unions PRO-GE and GPA had previously put pressure on again with warning strikes in the past few days. The workers’ representatives see their way through the strikes, “our negotiating position has changed,” it said today APA shortly before the start of the talks. Man wants to make “nails with heads”.
The workforce representatives are ready to negotiate late into the night. No deal in this round would mean a temporary strike next week. Shortly before the start of negotiations, the employer shows that an agreement can be reached today, so far not to elicit closer war on both sides after four clever rounds of negotiations.
The collective agreement is being negotiated for around 1,200 companies for November 1, 2021 until the beginning of November 2022; the majority of them are family-owned and export-oriented. The metal industry also includes the automotive supply industry, which is one of the central branches of industry in Austria (e.g. Magna in Graz, the BMW plant in Steyr, Opel in Vienna-Aspern or ZKW and AVL List).
Most recently, the workers had demanded an increase of 4.5 percent in wages and salaries plus an increase in allowances. The employers had offered 2.75 percent, with the also offered plus in apprentice compensation and shift allowances, they are 3.2 percent, so their bill. As a guide: the last inflation rate was 3.2 percent, the usual one-year inflation rate (retrospective) for the negotiations was 1.89 percent. The minimum wage in the metal industry is 2,000 euros gross. (APA)