The third round of collective bargaining negotiations for the approximately 430,000 employees and apprentices in retail did not produce any results today, November 14th. The employers offered a salary increase of 3.1% as part of a two-year agreement that provides for a 0.5% increase in salaries based on the rolling inflation rate in 2026, but only in the event of a rolling inflation rate below 2.0%.
“This offer is still far too low and would mean that all the risks of the current crisis would be passed on to the employees. The forecasts for the inflation rate in the coming year are significantly higher than 2%. The offer is therefore a provocation. It was not our wish that there would be any military action during the Christmas season, unfortunately the employers did not take up our suggestions for a sensible compromise,” said the chief negotiator of the GPA union, Veronika Arnost.
“We will call our works council members together for a conference next Wednesday and decide on further measures. The most recent company meetings have impressively shown that the employees expect more and are prepared to fight for a fair deal,” said Martin Müllauer, chairman of the GPA trade division.
A fourth round of negotiations is scheduled for November 21st.
OTS ORIGINAL TEXT PRESS RELEASE UNDER THE EXCLUSIVE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SENDER FOR CONTENT – WWW.OTS.AT | NGB