KV negotiations in the social economy: Negotiations are entering the third round as planned | SOCIAL ECONOMY AUSTRIA – Association of Austrian Social

Today, Monday, November 11, 2024, the second round of negotiations on the social economy collective agreement (SWÖ-KV) took place between the Austrian Social Economy (SWÖ) and the unions. Employers continued to be confronted with a broad catalog of demands, but some convergences were achieved on some substantive points. For SWÖ managing director and negotiator Yvonne Hochsteiner, the current offer from employers is already “attractive” compared to the industry. ****

“We offer inflation for the affected twelve months from the start. We are doing this even though it is not yet clear whether the funding agencies will go along with this because the recession will force them to make enormous savings. “But we hope that the social sector remains unaffected so that services can continue to be offered to people in Austria in line with their needs,” explains Hochsteiner. Rolling inflation for the period November 2023 to October 2024 including the current flash estimate for October 2024 would currently be 3.53 percent.

For Hochsteiner there would be “hardly any leeway”: “We are willing to talk at certain points, but everything has to remain within a realistic framework. We must approach every additional non-monetary measure with a sense of proportion and offset them financially.”

Care allowance needs to be “repaired”.

When it comes to the issue of care subsidies, however, for SWÖ chairman Erich Fenninger, the employee and employer sides are united in their interests: “We urgently need a repair in the financing of the wage increase special-purpose subsidy law (EEZG), because many employees are currently not receiving this care subsidy, even though their activity would justify this.”

This particularly applies to the disabled sector, because according to the available data, almost half of the employees do not receive the care subsidy. Fenninger: “We want to repair this unequal treatment in the collective agreement, but the financing must also be available for this.”

The third and final scheduled round of negotiations on the social economy collective agreement will take place on November 25, 2024. “We are aiming to reach a fair conclusion in the third round of negotiations so that the SWÖ collective agreement can come into force on time on January 1, 2025 and the employees receive compensation for the inflation,” concluded Hochsteiner. (branch)