Brazil, Austria

Unions and employers in the private electricity sector have had a first exchange with the second round of negotiations due in early January. While the employers have highlighted the continuing difficult economic situation the unions have focused on high dividends paid to shareholders and the high levels of productivity and performance delivered by the workforce. The unions are looking for a real pay increase plus increases to other payments and allowances. They are also calling for renewal of working group discussions relating to salary structures as well as working time, including shift work

The vida and GPA-djp trade unions have negotiated a new collective agreement for the 100000 workers in the private health and social services sector. There will be a 2.03% increase on pay and all allowances and other payments. In addition, a higher increase at the bottom of the pay scale will mean a minimum wage of €1500 for the sector. Different arrangements for different regions are also now phased out (with the exception of childcare assistants) meaning that the agreement provides uniform pay and conditions across the country. [Read more at > vida (DE)->http://www.vida.at/servlet

After two bargaining rounds unions and employers in the electricity sector negotiated a new collective agreement that comes into effect on 1 February. The 16000 workers in the industry will get a pay rise of between 1.9% and 2.1% with the higher increase for lower paid workers. Inflation in 2014 averaged 1.7% but was 1.0% in the year to December 2014. The agreement also includes provisions for continued discussions related to shift work and arduous work in relation to working lives. [Read more > GPA-djp (DE)->http://www.gpa-djp.at/cms/A03/A03_0.a/1342554288736/home/e-wirtschaft-loehne-und

The GdG-KMSfB union has secure improvements in pay and rules around working time for doctors employed by the federation of health institutions in Vienna. There will be higher starting pay and increased annual leave for new starters which the union regards as crucial to make the job more attractive. There are other changes to working time to ensure that all time at work is paid and that any time worked above normal hours is paid as overtime, on the basis of a 40-hour week. [Read more at > GdG-KMSfB (DE)->http://www.gdg-kmsfb.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=C01B/Page/Index&n=C01_80.1.a&cid

The vida services union has a negotiated a collective agreement covering doctors employed by Viennese religious, non-profit hospitals. It sees this as a real milestone from the trade union point of view, filling an important gap in the collective bargaining landscape. The agreement provides, for the first time a transparent pay structure and framework of other employment conditions where there had been widely differing pay and conditions across the eight individual hospitals in the organisation. The arrangements are also comparable to those in the public sector. [Read more at > vida (DE)->http

More than 5000 local government workers in 70 municipalities in the Lower Austria region took part in meetings on 24 June in protest at the pay freeze that has been imposed for 2013. The meetings agreed resolutions calling on the regional and federal government to open negotiations with the trade unions with a view to a pay increase that would at least compensate for inflation. The GDG-KMSfB will call a major demonstration in September if it doesn't receive a positive response from the employers. [Read more at > GDG-KMSfB (DE)->http://www.gdg-kmsfb.at/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=C01B/Page

The GPA-DJP services union has underlined the effectiveness of relying on minimum wages in collective agreements. A recent report by the Hans Böckler-Stiftung in Germany notes that Austria has one of the smallest percentage of low-paid workers in Europe. This is down to the very high level of collective bargaining coverage with most sector agreements having a monthly minimum salary of at least €1300, several with €1400 and with unions pushing for a €1500 minimum. Trade unions still need to work on some areas of the economy where workers are not covered by collective agreements as well as

The GDG-KMSfB municipal workers' union is considering its next steps and the possibility of industrial action to put pressure on the regional government of Lower Austria which has so far refused to negotiate a pay increase for 2013. The union points out that most other regions have agreed pay increases and so there is no reasons for Lower Austria to be an exception. The union was pleased by the turnout of over 3000 members who joined a demonstration in St. Pölten, the regional capital, on 17 September but disappointed that this failed to generate any proposal on pay from the regional

The GDG-KMSfB local and regional government union has taken a decision to authorise strike action following the refusal of the regional government in Lower Austria to negotiate over pay. The union has criticised Erwin Pröll, the regional government head, for effectively imposing a real wage cut on workers and for ignoring the 3000 demonstrators who joined a union protest back in September. The GDG says it has run out of patience waiting for a response from Pröll and is calling for fair negotiations over a reasonable pay rise for regional government employees for 2013 and 2014. [Read more at >

Negotiations have just been concluded in the engineering sector which is a key pacesetter for pay bargaining in the rest of the economy. After some hard negotiations the GPA-DJP and PRO-GE trade unions managed to secure a pay increase without any link to working time flexibility which will now be dealt with in separate negotations. From 1 November the 120000 workers in the industry will get pay increase of between 2.5% and 3.2%, with the higher increase going to lower paid workers. Inflation in Austria was 1.7% in the year to September. [Read more at > GPA-DJP (DE)->http://www.gpa-djp.at

Trade unions are please that public sector-wide pay negotiations are under way this year after the government and regional government employers refused a national deal and unions had to try to negotiate on a regional basis. However, after three rounds of talks the employers have failed to come up with an pay offer for 2014. There have been exchanges on the state of the economy and the public finances and unions are looking to at least protect the purchasing power of public sector workers' pay but so far the government has refused even to make this commitment. [Read more at GDG-KMSfB (DE)->http