15 November, 2010The agreement, valid for 165,000 workers in the metal industry and mining sector, was reached in the third round after a 17-hour marathon negotiation achieving a conclusion on November 6.
AUSTRIA: IMF affiliate PRO-GE signed a new collective agreement, covering some 165,000 employees and workers in the metalworking and mining industry sector. This outcome was achieved due to pressure on the employers' side after nationwide works council conferences and some 400 staff meetings had been organized to inform the workers and discuss possible industrial action.
The agreement includes a range of improvements for workers. The main aspects are:
- an increase in minimum wages/salaries by 2.5 percent
- an increase in effectively paid wages/salaries by 2.3 percent, with a minimum pay rise of 45 Euros (resulting in lower wage groups gaining increases of up to three per cent), and
- a new collectively agreed gross minimum wage of 1,515.84 Euros.
The union also said the workers will get an extra one-off payment dependent on the business performance at individual company level to be paid in March 2011.
The new collective agreement will take effect from November 1, 2010 and the deadline for renewal is 12 months.
"Negotiations proved difficult, it took us three negotiation rounds the last of which continued 17 hours to conclude a new agreement. This was due to the intransigent attitude on the employers' side to raise their meagre offer (two per cent pay rise), put forward during the second bargaining session, unless our negotiation team would agree to withdraw their demand for reduction in working time," said the PRO-GE in a statement.