Social partner workshops for the future of railways
The social partners in the railway sector are taking new constructive paths in their cooperation. The railway department in the trade union vida and the trade association of railways in the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKÖ) organised a two-day workshop for the first time to work together on the framework law of the collective agreement.
Railway workers
The best minds for the railway industry
The focus is on a common goal: to attract and retain the best minds for the railway industry. "The railways with their green jobs are an industry of the future. " This makes it all the more important that the framework conditions for employees also become more sustainable and modern," emphasizes Gerhard Tauchner, Chairman of the vida Railway Department.
"Thanks to the sensationally high participation of colleagues in the KV survey 2024, we can contribute their views and needs directly to the workshops."
More services also need more staff
"It is particularly important to us as a union that with fair salaries and better working conditions, sufficient new staff can be quickly recruited for the railways. Thousands more natural departures due to retirements are due in the coming years and the range of railways is constantly being expanded in parallel. The staff shortage and overtime figures have been overwhelming for the workforce since the introduction of the climate ticket. It is clear that we have to make the railway professions more attractive in order to attract more newcomers to them," the department chairman continued. "This does not require any quick fixes, such as the struggle for workers from third countries, but a collective agreement that is also competitive in terms of framework law in the competition for highly qualified workers on the labour market," adds Tauchner.
No collective bargaining negotiations, but a new form of cooperation
However, the workshop of the social partners is not the annual collective agreement negotiations – these are not scheduled to start until the second half of the year, the vida trade unionist continues. Rather, this new form of cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce is an open-ended, solution-oriented cooperation in which experts from the employer and employee sides work together in a series of workshops on concrete proposals for the further development of the collective bargaining framework law.
Making railways even more attractive as employers
The workshops will focus on topics such as flexibility, the ability to plan working hours and adaptation to current operational challenges. "We share with the social partner the common goal of making the railways even more attractive as an employer," emphasizes Tauchner. "The workshops are about identifying problems together, understanding each other's perspectives even better and also developing possible solutions together," affirms the vida trade unionist. The next workshop is scheduled for the end of April.
