Social Economy Collective Agreement: Agreement Once Again Not Reached
In the social economy, the fourth round of collective bargaining negotiations began on Thursday morning and ended without results. The offer presented by the opposing side is still insufficient. Therefore, the unions GPA and vida will expand the strikes in terms of location and time. The focus would be from December 16 to 18. A new negotiation date in January is still to be agreed upon, it was said shortly after midnight.
Collective Bargaining in Social Economy - Agreement Again Not Reached
Despite extremely difficult conditions - particularly the massive cuts by the federal government, states, and municipalities - the SWÖ has done everything in the negotiations and has reached the budgetary limit of what is financially feasible. It has been clearly demonstrated again that the financial conditions are extremely strained due to massive cuts by the federal government, states, and municipalities. SWÖ Chairman Erich Fenninger: "The employees are doing extraordinary work and deserve the highest appreciation - we want to enable more, but we cannot if the funding providers do not provide the necessary resources. If we are not financed more, we will reach limits that we cannot overcome on our own."
The employers presented the following offer for a salary increase over two years in 15 hours of negotiations: As of April 1, 2026, the collective agreement wages and salaries are to increase by 2.3 percent. This corresponds to an increase of 1.72 percent for the entire year 2026, as no increase is planned for the first three months. Thus, the offer for 2026 was not effectively increased compared to the last round of negotiations. The actual wages and salaries are to increase by 2 percent as of April 1, 2026. As of January 1, 2027, the collective agreement wages and salaries are to increase by 1.7 percent, and the actual wages and salaries by 1.5 percent.
"Apparently Confuse Collective Bargaining with Self-Help Group"
GPA negotiator Eva Scherz: "The employers apparently confuse a collective bargaining negotiation with a self-help group. Instead of complaining to the unions about the situation, the employers must finally take a decisive stand against politics." The pressure will continue to be increased.
Already last week, the union called for protests and strikes. At around 300 locations of private health, social, and care professions (with a total of around 130,000 employees), strikes were held for several hours.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.