KV Sozialwirtschaft: Trade unions go into the next round strengthened
Second round of negotiations on 13 November – Thousands of employees send a strong signal for fair wages and better conditions in the social economy.
KV negotiation
On Thursday, 13 November 2025, the collective agreement negotiations for the approximately 130,000 employees in the private health, social and care sector (Social Economy Austria, SWÖ) will enter the second round. The trade unions GPA and vida already caused a stir in the run-up to the event: Under the motto "4 wins", they called on the employees to briefly interrupt their work in order to take a photo of solidarity together and send it to the union.
Match 4
Thousands of workers responded to the call – an impressive sign of determination, which is visible on the Action Platform www.worte-reichen-nicht.at .
"The commitment of thousands of employees was a strong sign of our willingness to fight. The colleagues in the companies have thus shown that they stand behind our demands and are not afraid of the employers' lament of cuts. If there is no movement by the employers in the coming round of negotiations, the employees are prepared to turn this signal into tangible measures. Our industry is not in crisis: Demand is increasing and the need for professional work in the social sector is greater than ever before. That cries out for a corresponding salary increase."Verhandlerin für die Gewerkschaft GPA
Michaela Guglberger, negotiator for the trade union vida, also urgently warns of the consequences of a short-sighted austerity policy:
"Threatened savings in the social sector accompany us every year in the negotiations - as soon as the collective agreement is concluded, however, surprisingly it is again about the tens of thousands of vacancies that cannot be filled due to a lack of applicants. It is the task of employers to think long-term and at the same time this is also an appeal to political leaders to rethink their savings thoughts. If we do not make the social sector more attractive, the shortage of personnel will be further exacerbated by the demographic shift. Anyone who does not decide today to do an apprenticeship in our field will not be available as a worker in a few years – even if the public sector has solved its budget problems by then."vida-Chefverhandlerin SWÖ
The second round of negotiations on the collective agreement for the social economy will take place on 13 November from 10:00 a.m. in the ÖGB-Haus Catamaran (Johann-Böhm-Platz 1, 1020 Vienna). The new collective agreement will apply from 1 January 2026.
