Austria
(December 2016) The minimum wage for childcare assistants in private sector institutions will increase by 2.3% from 1 January 2017, reports the vida services union. This will take the minimum monthly wage to EUR 1469, a further step towards the union target of EUR 1500. The rate was negotiated with the federal administration and will apply to around 5300 workers across the country.
The vida services union has negotiated a 3% pay increase that will cover around 5000 childcare assistants working in private institutions and take the minimum wage in the sector to EUR 1611 a month. Pay for this group of workers is regulated by the ministry of social affairs. There will also be a 3% increase on additional payments and a new pay level for workers with 31 years of service or more.
Municipal workers' union Kommunal has recorded the success it has had in improving the pay and status of assistant nurses. In 2016 and 2017 the union ensured that assistant nurses received a pay increase of SEK 1020 (EUR 97) worth around 4.3% while the overall increase in local government was SEK 520 (EUR 49) worth around 2.2%. Further progress followed in 2017 with SEK 180 (EUR 17) for assistant nurses on top of the general increase of SEK 530 (EUR 50), worth 2.2%.Kommunal notes that the gap between pay for nurses and engineers has closed but that more needs to be done to increase pay in
The SETCA/BBTK service union has welcomed the agreement in principle to establish a new statute covering the pay and employment conditions of around 10,000 childcare workers. The union believes that it is important that the importance and professionalism of this overwhelmingly female workforce is recognised and properly regulated. However, the union is concerned about commitments from the federal government to ensure that funding is available to pay for the improved employment conditions and was angry that an initial suggestion was that the statutes covering childcare workers should be based
