"Unjustified Million Costs": "Angry Plumbers" Do Not Go Before the Constitutional Court After All

Now, a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act is being made to find out how much money the BUAK has received from tinsmith companies so far. They themselves speak of millions.

Tinsmiths continue to speak of unjustified million-dollar costs

The tinsmiths continue to speak to the APA about unjustified million-dollar costs and the increase in labor costs due to their inclusion in the BUAK via the BUAG (Construction Workers' Holiday and Severance Pay Act). The interest group of tinsmiths was formed in protest against their retroactive inclusion as of August 2024 in the BUAG and as of November of the previous year in the Construction Workers' Bad Weather Compensation Act (BSchEG). Since then, the association "IG Spengler" has organized around 120 companies across Austria because they feel unrepresented by the top officials of the Chamber of Commerce, who agreed on this "industry solution" with the union.

For the "industry solution" has brought significant burdens for the tinsmiths and millions in additional revenue for the BUAK. "The details fixed in the backroom, such as the demands for surcharges from previous service periods and the retroactive payment of a sixth week of vacation after 20 years - instead of the previous 25 years - for existing employment relationships, were and are catastrophic for the affected tinsmith companies," complain the "angry tinsmiths."

"WKÖ carelessly betrayed interests"

"How carelessly our interests were betrayed in the negotiations between WKÖ and BUAK is shown by the fact that the main sufferers are the leading companies in our trade with many employees, whose liquidity has been weakened and who have been burdened with immense bureaucracy," says Paul Haberhauer, an entrepreneur in Amstetten and chairman of IG Spengler. "The completely unexpected purchase of the sixth week of vacation alone was associated with horrendous additional burdens for us without any added value. The back payments in my company in the area of vacation, including the vacation back payments for 2024, amount to 170,000 euros."

Estimate: 22 Million Euros into the BUAG System

According to an estimate by IG Spengler, around 1,650 companies with approximately 7,000 employees have registered in the BUAG system so far. This would result in revenues of about 22 million euros for the BUAK. The employees did not benefit from the back payments, the money remains with the BUAK, according to IG Spengler.

More Expensive Working Hours

This sum is reached despite the renegotiations conducted due to the protest. The percentage for the purchase of the 6th vacation week was reduced from 5.3 to 2.75 percent. Before the renegotiations, the cost per employee for the purchase of the 6th vacation week was between 12,000 and 13,500 euros, afterwards with average additional costs of 3,500 euros per employee. "Our efforts have reduced payments to the BUAK by around 20 million euros, the percentage was lowered for retirements and installment payments were enabled. Nevertheless, the BUAK - with the support of the WKÖ - collected millions at our expense," says the initiator of IG Spengler, Alois Perwein. For consumers, the price of a working hour increases by 3.50 euros.

Freedom of Information Act is Utilized

How much money the inclusion of the sheet metal worker companies has brought into the coffers of the BUAG so far is now to be clarified by an application for information under the Freedom of Information Act. Specifically, IG Spengler wants to know, for example, what the contribution revenues of the BUAK from the inclusion of the sheet metal worker companies are as of the date of the response. However, they are foregoing the announced constitutional complaint. Ultimately, even a victory would very likely not yield any benefit, various legal details were referred to. With the representation by the WKÖ, the "angry sheet metal workers" are still not at all satisfied, they emphasized to the APA with reference to an internal survey.

(APA/Red)

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