Employees’ unions don’t want to further negotiate a new collective labor agreement: ‘First make sure how much money we will have’ | the interior

Talks have been going on for more than a year. According to Stefan Slagmüelder of the Liberal Civil Servants Union, there is already a lot on paper, about 60 pages.

In addition to the financial aspects, the texts on the table also contain many elements related to employment policy, work organization, training and welfare. The press release said that all should lead to an actual increase in the value of the federal public sector.” But there is still no agreement on raising wages and the whole thirteenth month.

To do this, there must be guarantees first about the available budget, unions say. Minister Petra de Satter (Green) will insist on a tentative agreement before the summer break, but unions don’t want to hear about it. “The logic is that we first know for sure how much money we will have available,” says Slagmulder. “It has always been this way.”

Originally there was a budget of 305 million euros. We understand that these are tough times, but promises were made. In addition, officials have always worked during the Corona crisis”, notes the unionist.

No concrete action is planned to advance their demands at the moment, and unions of public servants are waiting for the government’s response. Although a delegation will participate in a demonstration on June 20 for more purchasing power, there are likely to be strikes in some government services, says Slagmwelder.