Hands off the right to strike!

During the Austria-wide warning strikes by bus drivers at private bus companies for better working conditions on 20.2.2025, there were disruptions and intimidation by managers, especially in Vienna, in order to dissuade employees from striking. The broad alliance of trade union vida, climate protection organisations, AK Vienna and bus drivers "Wir-Fahren-Gemeinsam" therefore held a protest action against the restriction of the democratically guaranteed right to strike on Friday, 28.2.2025 at 10 a.m., under the motto "Hands off the right to strike!". 

Hands off the right to strike

On 5 March, the fifth round of negotiations will take place between the trade union vida and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKÖ) for the 12,000 employees in the collective agreement for private bus companies (including ÖBB-Postbus, Blaguss, Dr. Richard, Sabtours and Gschwindl). "If the employers then again do not present a substantially improved offer in terms of working conditions, we will feel compelled to tighten the strike screw further. In this case, we are reminding the employers with the action on Friday that the right to strike is a human right, the exercise of which they do not have to restrict or prevent," emphasizes Roman Hebenstreit, chairman of the transport union vida.  

Worrying development in tolerance of the exercise of fundamental democratic rights

The union is still working through the threats against the bus drivers on the day of the strike. Employees are interviewed in detail with online surveys and in personal conversations. "Shortly after the strike, we still assumed a small number of incidents at individual locations throughout Austria, but especially at the Vienna locations there was a democratically questionable exertion of pressure. This is a worrying development in tolerance of the exercise of basic democratic rights such as the right to strike," criticizes Hebenstreit.  

Intimidation with threats of dismissal

In the run-up to the strike, executives tried to exert pressure to prevent employees from striking, disrupt strike meetings or send drivers away from the bases in their buses before the strike began, so that they could not hold strike meetings, says the vida chairman. The mildest attempts were still the spread of false information: For example, it was launched that one had to register for the strike the day before. Before and during the strike, there were also threats of dismissal. Attempts were made to deliberately intimidate drivers by calling the police or by keeping special "strike lists".

"Mafia methods" and "Drive over it!"

"These are mafia methods, when the company threatens to make life difficult for us after a strike and even tells us on the day of the strike itself, 'everyone who strikes gets dismissed'," sums up the statement of a bus driver, who wishes to remain anonymous for understandable reasons. Another driver told vida that he had been yelled at by his superior, "Drive over it!" (This meant activists protesting peacefully in front of a bus location who supported the strikers.; Note). Otherwise it is a refusal to work!". 

Back to dialogue

"We call on the WKÖ and the employers to leave the path of escalation and return to the negotiating table with reasonable proposals," said the vida chairman. "We appeal to employers to ensure that their legal duty of care towards employees is fully complied with, even in the event of a strike, and to ensure that there are no more incidents of psychological or other violence during strikes. No one may be prevented from exercising the right to strike," Hebenstreit affirms. 

Eva Janschitz, climate activist and spokesperson for "Wir fahren Gemeinsam" emphasizes about the incidents during the strike: "It is unbelievable that the right to strike in Austria is being attacked in such a way! That's why we climate activists are helping to organize this action and will protest in solidarity with the bus drivers even in the event of possible further strikes on site!"

In the collective bargaining negotiations and strike measures – the sticking point is an improvement in working conditions, for example through extended surcharges for night work – the trade union vida and the bus drivers are supported by climate activists from the organisations Fridays For Future and System Change, Not Climate Change! because a climate-friendly mobility turnaround cannot otherwise succeed without more attractive working conditions for urgently needed additional bus drivers and better working conditions for them.