Metaller KV: employers consider the possible completion of this round

Metaller KV: employers consider the possible completion of this round

VIENNA. According to the employers, the fourth round of negotiations on metallurgical technologies, which began late this afternoon, are "constructive and positive".

Chief Negotiator Rainer Wimmer (left) and Chief Negotiator Johannes Collini (right) Image: ROBERT JAEGER (APA)

With the appropriate will of the union, a diploma is already possible in this round, it was said in the evening on demand. The employees were less confident, the positions were still very far apart and was declared in the evening during a trading break. In any case, wage negotiations are likely to continue late into the night.

The unions concerned, Pro-Ge and GPA-djp, called for a 5% increase in wages and salaries and compensation for the new legal rules on working time, which caused a crisis to the detriment of workers. .

The employers rejected this request, considering it exaggerated and potentially life-threatening for some companies. They want to have a KV diploma for two or three years and create a working group to prepare the merger of the collective agreements of workers and employees into a "KV" within two years.

"The fronts are extremely hardened"

He should "move a lot", so he always comes to the conclusion, "I think we are still very far from one degree," said Pro-Ge negotiator Rainer Wimmer shortly before the start of negotiations. Friday afternoon.

"The facades are extremely hardened," said Wimmer. "We have made a proper request and we are serious about the five percent." Employers would be forced to move out today, said the unionist. They wanted to get something for shift workers and flexible workers, as well as a "decent amount of money".

A collective agreement of more than one year rejects the employees. "The longer a degree, the more you have to rely on chance." In reality, we are negotiating over the past year and not on the future. However, if you come up with a consistent set, "we are talking about longer periods, but employers want to do something different with that, they want to give less for the second year, which is not an option viable for us. "

"Beat and increase the pressure

With the discussion of a unified collective agreement for employees and workers, we do not want to waste time, it is now primarily to let employees participate in the success – "we have sensational economic data", has said Wimmer. If you reach a good degree now, you are quite willing to talk about the subject.

He is now on the verge of deregulating the new legal imbalance of working time, Wimmer said. "We already have agreements on how to extend flexible hours to 12 hours and on work schedule opportunities."

If you do not agree today, you will be able to discuss the way forward on Monday, "but we will certainly increase the number of strokes and the blood pressure," said the chief of the djp from GPA, Karl Dürtscher. Corporate meetings are "definitely a possibility, but there are others, of course".

A decision on the combat measures on the part of the ÖGB is already this year preventive for all industries. Thus, partial unions do not need ÖGB-Okay to implement "measures to achieve the KV" until strike in their sector.

"Strikes do not help anyone"

"Strikes do not help anyone," said Christian Knill, president of the metallurgical industry. "This is not suitable for international investors and damages the location."

The trade unionists' claim for compensation for the new regulation on working time, Knill does not believe justified. "There is currently no impact, no change, neither the collective agreement nor the company agreements, so we do not know why we should do anything."

There are points in the area of ​​the framework law on which we are ready to talk to the unions. However, overall, the employee representative's request package is "unreasonable, putting pressure on the industry". Twenty percent of companies in the sector are not doing as well as others. It would be the "coup de grace," Knill warned.

According to Knill, there are many ways to mitigate rising labor costs, so you can also agree on one-time payments or different KVs and real increases

The agreement on collective agreements for workers and employees ("KV") would not be immediate, they suggested to a working group to deal with over the next two years, Knill said. In addition, each year, you have to move away from the database to discuss new data. "It's difficult when we need three rounds of negotiations to come up with what is now a common inflation or something of the sort."

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