vida action at the Salzburg Festival: "Not on our backs!"
With the campaign "Not on our backs!", the trade union vida is drawing attention to the low incomes in the hotel and catering industry before the opening of the Salzburg Festival.
Tourism KV
The negotiations on the collective agreement for the hotel and catering industry are deadlocked. The Austrian Federal Economic Chamber denies employees in the lowest wage groups full compensation for inflation and has recently unilaterally declared the collective bargaining negotiations to be over.
With a trade union action on Sunday morning before the opening ceremony of the Salzburg Festival, the trade union vida made visible who makes successful tourism in Austria possible day after day: the employees in hotels, restaurants, kitchens and pubs.
Gallery
Tourism records not on the backs of employees
Eva Eberhart, chairwoman of the tourism department in the trade union vida and head of the collective bargaining negotiations, calls for a collective agreement that protects the incomes of employees.
"Not like that! The records in domestic tourism must not be achieved on the backs of employees. Our tourism must not be based on poverty wages."Vorsitzende des vida-Fachbereichs Tourismus
Employees in the hotel and catering industry must not have to accept any loss of real wages. Those who have less purchasing power despite rising prices do not experience a wage increase, but a wage cut through the back door.
WKÖ offer also for apprentices under inflation
The Chamber of Commerce's offer for apprentices also remains below the inflation rate. This also threatens young people in the industry with real income losses.
"If you want to attract and retain skilled workers, you have to invest in training - in any case, this KV offer from the WKÖ will not alleviate the shortage of skilled workers," warns Eberhart.
Especially an industry that has been complaining about a lack of workers for years must offer good training conditions, fair apprentice incomes and reliable career prospects. Low wages are not a remedy for the shortage of skilled workers – they are part of the problem.
1,645 euros net for a full-time position
In the lowest wage group, employees in tourism currently earn only around 1,645 euros net per month for a 40-hour week. At the same time, the costs of housing, food, energy and mobility are rising.
For people with low incomes, there is less and less left to live on. A collective bargaining agreement below inflation would further exacerbate this situation.
"We cannot agree to a collective agreement that makes people with already low incomes even poorer," Eberhart emphasizes.
Employees need real wage increases
The patience of the employees is at an end. They need real wage increases that at least compensate for inflation – and not offers that further weaken their purchasing power.
Without fair wages and better working conditions, even more employees will leave the hotel and catering industry. This exacerbates precisely the problem that employers themselves regularly complain about: the shortage of labour and skilled workers.
We therefore stand by our demand: full inflation compensation, fair incomes and good working conditions for employees in Austrian tourism.
