Renate Anderl offensive

AK boss wants penalties for overtime

(Bild: krone.tv)

Last year, the Chamber of Labor provided around 2.3 million consultations nationwide. Questions about dismissals, salary and unpaid overtime made up the lion's share of advice, accounting for around two thirds. "We have a lot of inquiries because the income doesn't fit. Either the overtime has not been paid or the employee's salary is too low," explains AK President Renate Anderl. In the krone.tv talk, she calls for penalties for companies. 

According to Anderl, Austrians are hard-working, as can be seen from the amount of overtime they work: "We work 181 million hours of overtime!" The sad thing is that 49 million of them are not paid. Anderl wants to discuss this fact with politicians soon. "Because if we report it, go to court, then the employer has to pay back. In reality, however, they only pay back what they withheld from the employee, with very small expenses. What we are missing is a penalty payment."

Renate Anderl in the krone.tv talk(Bild: krone.tv)

Renate Anderl makes a comparison with fare evasion fines: "If I travel on Wiener Linien public transport and forget my ticket, I don't pay the fare, I pay a hefty fine. So that you remember and don't do it again." It is now commonplace not to pay overtime, but to assume that employers will do so. "This saves companies a lot of money at the expense of employees."

"Longer opening hours increase pressure"
The head of Rewe Austria recently called for grocery stores to open until 11 pm. Naturally, Renate Anderl doesn't think much of this: "I just ask myself whether I will be able to go shopping more with my income or only at other times. I think we're forgetting the female employees in this discussion." It is predominantly women who are employed in precisely this area. Anderl is not only concerned about "single women", but also about a regular family life, which is being "destroyed" as a result.

It also increases the pressure: "I haven't heard that there will be twice as many people working in retail. Let's be honest, if there are too few staff, then the consumer is the one who gets angry."

Watch the full interview with Renate Anders in the video above!