The collective bargaining negotiations on the salaries and wages of the almost 50,000 employees in the chemical industry will continue on May 6th. In the third round of negotiations on Tuesday, the unions and the trade association were unable to reach an agreement. The employers consider the demands of the employee representatives to be too high and, in a press release following the meeting, referred to the poor order situation and the high unit costs in Austria.
The Austrian Chemical Industry Association (FCIO) says it is offering an average increase of 4.1 percent. According to the employers’ association, lower incomes that are particularly affected by inflation should be increased more.
Inflation over the past twelve months, which is the basis for negotiations, was 6.8 percent. A degree below this would mean a loss in real wages, a degree above it would mean a gain in real wages.
Work meetings from Wednesday
“This offer, which is well below the average inflation rate, does not meet the expectations of the employees and cannot be accepted,” said the negotiating unions PRO-GE and GPA in a press release. They are calling for “sustainable inflation compensation”. From tomorrow, Wednesday until next Tuesday, company meetings will be held. If the fourth round of negotiations also fails, “further union measures” would be taken.
The employers’ chief negotiator, Berthold Stöger, said that too high a degree would endanger the future of the company and thus jobs. Austria is the negative leader in Europe when it comes to rising unit labor costs. The cautious tariff policy in Germany, the largest sales market and most important competitor, also poses a challenge for the chemical industry in Austria
