Civil Servant Salaries: Things Get Serious on Tuesday
Government and union meet on Tuesday for the first round of civil servant salary negotiations. The talks are considered extremely delicate, as the coalition plans to reopen the agreement already set for 2026. It was planned that public employees would receive an increase of 0.3 percent above inflation next year. That would be around 3.3 percent. The coalition hopes for a concession.
Government appeals to union
The difficult situation has its roots in the previous year, when the union approved a settlement of 3.5 percent for 2025, which is 0.3 percent below inflation, but secured a legal guarantee that this loss would be compensated next year. However, the government now needs money and appeals to the union to contribute to budget consolidation. To clarify: an increase of one percent for civil servants costs approximately 190 million euros, according to estimates.
The government's leverage is that the budget plans for 2027 and 2028 each include a zero wage round. Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer (SPÖ), who leads the negotiations together with Civil Service State Secretary Alexander Pröll (ÖVP), has indicated that they could accommodate the union in those two years if it agrees to reopen the package for 2026. The head of the civil servants' union, Eckehard Quin, has signaled willingness to negotiate, but also faces internal pressure, as freedom-oriented and independent unionists openly opposed a change to the agreement on Monday.
Compromise rather unlikely
It is rather unlikely that a compromise will be reached on Tuesday, although preliminary talks are said to have been somewhat constructive. It is clear that a change to the agreement for 2026 would require a legislative amendment.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.