Austrian unions win above-inflation increases

Two important bargaining groups in Austria have agreed above-inflation increases.

Negotiations in the metalworking and mining industry have produced a 2.1% increase over 12 months in both actual pay and collectively negotiated rates for 180,000 employees - both manual and non-manual.

This translates into a €35 increase a month for those on the lowest rates.

Inflation is currently running at 1.4% (September 2003) and is forecast to be 1.2% in 2004.

The agreement also allows individual employees to vary the increase in rates, provided total pay rises by at least 2.4% and no one gets less than a 1.8% increase.

The agreement was signed at the end of last month and came into effect at the start of November.

Rudolf Nürnberger, the general secretary of the union involved, the GMT said: "with this settlement we have taken account both of the living standards of employees and the need to safeguard the economy".

The agreement covering 53,000 workers in the electrical and electronics industry, who until two years ago were included in the metalworking agreement, was signed a week later.

It provides for a 2.5% increase but runs for 18 months from 1 November. As well as also allowing some flexibility at company level - 0.6% can be used flexibly but the minimum individual increase must still be 2.3% - it introduces a common pay structure for manual and non-manual employees for the first time from May 2004.