Transparency & Corruption, Health, Croatia, Belarus, Austria, Armenia

After lengthy negotiations a new public sector pay structure is in place that means significant increases to the coefficients used to calculate salaries for different occupations. Overall public sector workers are set to benefit on average by 13.5% in comparison to pay levels in 2023. Most unions are generally happy with the new system, including the HSSMS-MT nurses’ and health workers’ union which is one of 11 to sign the public sector collective agreement. However, other unions, including teaching unions, are unhappy with the outcome and argue that the new system fails to deliver appropriate

The vida services union has negotiated a new collective agreement with religious hospitals that has been approved by 92% of union members. The finalisation of the agreement was also pending confirmation of funding from the City of Vienna. Salaries increase by 8.3% with a 7.9% increase on allowances. The night work allowance for doctors increases to €20.00 an hour (18.8%) and the Sunday allowance to €14.00 an hour (20.9%). For non-medical staff the increase in the night and Sunday allowance takes it to €53.00 (21.5%) for more than four hours, otherwise to €6.63 an hour (21%). Workers get a

The GPA trade union is calling for urgent action on pay and conditions in health and care to deal with major anticipated shortages of nursing staff. A recent report by Health Austria says that there will be a shortfall of 200,000 nurses by 2050. The union underlines that better working conditions have to be part of the solution rather than look to recruit from third countries. GPA says that nurses are stretched to their limits with day-to-day care characterized by overtime, constant standing in for absent staff and a bureaucracy that leaves hardly any time for caring. These conditions lead to

The vida and GPA private services unions have negotiated a new collective agreement covering the 7,000 employees in the regional associations of the Austrian Red Cross. All employees in the framework collective agreement will get a 9.15% increase while all employees in the new collective agreement section B and in the province of Vienna will get 9.2%. The increases are backdated to 1 January 2024. The collective agreement ensures that important provisions that previously differed from one province to another have now been successfully harmonised across the country, with a normal working week

A proposed new system of public sector pay has been criticised by unions for failing to provide salary coefficients for different occupations that would be a fair reflection their skills, workloads and responsibilities. The HSSMS-MT health workers’ union has called for proper recognition of nurses’ level of education and have made clear that it feels its members have been less fairly treated than doctors who are taken action against the proposals. The SDLSN union has also expressed concern, particularly on behalf of its members in the Ministry of Justice who took strike action last year over

The vida and GPA trade unions representing workers in non-profit care and other services have negotiated a new collective agreement with the Caritas group of religious organisations. The agreement applies to 41 organisations employing 17,700 workers, delivering a range of services such as disability care, education, support for the homeless and those in poverty. The increase took effect on 1 January with a 7.7% applied to salaries plus a 1.5% monthly allowance. All other bonuses and allowances increase by 9.2%. The unions believe this is another important step in delivering decent pay and

Following negotiations between the younion trade union and the City of Vienna and the Vienna Health Association (VHA), €150 million has been made available for better pay, better working conditions, more leisure time and measures to combat labour shortages. The 9.15% pay rise in January follows the public-sector wide negotiations but in addition there will be extra payments for night work and for working on Sundays and public holidays. Night shift workers are set to get two hours credit per shift that can be taken as time off or extra pay if not used within six months. There are extra payments

Following a third round of bargaining the younion and GÖD trade unions are pleased to have negotiated pay rises of between 9.71% and 9.15% for public sector workers with a minimum increase of €192. Pay additions and allowances will also rise by 9.15%. This is the highest increase for many years and the unions believe that along with the compensation for the recent surge in inflation, there is also recognition by employers that action is needed to tackle the staff shortages affecting most public services. There is also an acknowledgement of the extra efforts made by workers as they shoulder the

The second round of negotiations covering the 130,000 employees in the private health and social care sector ended after 10 hours without result. The employers didn’t improve their offer of 8.8%, well below the demands of the GPA and vida trade unions for 15% with a minimum increase of €400. They argue that 8.8% is just too low to make the industry more attractive and to address the fact that average pay in the sector is 22% below the national average across the whole economy. A national works council conference was set for 20 November where the unions would discuss further measures, including

The GÖD and younion public sector unions have been involved in the second round of bargaining over pay with the aim, as usual, to ensure that all public sector workers get a pay increase from 1 January. Alongside the surge in the cost of living the trade unions are underlining the increased burdens taken on by many workers, often as a result of staff shortages, as strong justification for a sustainable salary increase. The unions’ demands have been supported with a letter to the government negotiator from the head of the ÖGB trade union confederation. This highlights the massive contribution

The HSSMS-MT healthcare union reports that following the third round of public sector pay negotiations, unions have accepted a pay increase of 5%, an improvement on the 3% offer made in the second round of bargaining. The unions have also secured the €300 Christmas bonus that they were looking for and an Easter bonus of €100, less than they wanted but a €30 improvement on the previous offer. There is also a commitment that, should the new pay system not be in place by 1 March 2024, then negotiations would open for a general pay increase.

The first round of bargaining for a 2024 pay increase for public sector workers took place on 20 October and as usual the basic aim was to agree the key figures on which the negotiations would be based. These were established as 9.15% for inflation (year to September 2023) and forecasts of a 0.4%-0.8% decline in economic output. The negotiations involve the public sector unions younion and GÖD. Meanwhile, the first round of bargaining in private health and social care was disappointing for the vida and GPA trade unions as the employer offer of an 8.8% increase was well below the unions’ claim

The vida and GPA trade unions have initiated negotiations in the private health and social care sector with a demand for a 15% pay increase with a minimum of €400. The sector employs 130000 workers and the unions are calling for action to address the fact that pay is on average 22% below national average earnings. GPA and vida also argue that the public funding is there and that employers in the sector need to ensure they get the support from government to cover the pay rises and to ensure the sector is more attractive and help tackle staffing shortages. In addition to pay, the unions are also

The HSSMS-MT health workers’ union reports that in the second round of public sector pay negotiations the government has put forward an offer of a 3% increase along with a €67.73 increase to the Christmas bonus to take it to €300 and a proposed Easter bonus of €70. This contrasts to the initial claim from public sector unions for a 15% pay increase along with bonuses of €300 for both Christmas and Easter along with other bonuses. The government argues that the introduction of a new pay system in 2024 will mean salary increases of 14%. However, the unions argue that the higher increase is

The public sector unions representing health and social care workers, younion and GÖD, organised a protest outside the Ministry of Health earlier this month to warn of imminent burn out of the health sector. The unions are calling on the government to take urgent action on staff shortages and to convene a national health summit. Younion and GÖD presented new calculations on the growing staffing gap in the health sector with a national shortage of 3369 nurses in state, community and district hospitals, an increase of 19.2% compared to May of this year. With 986 vacancies for doctors, more