Edtstadler puts pressure on
41-hour week: “Work more instead of less”
Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) understands the industry's desire for a 41-hour week. "If we want to maintain our prosperity, we have to work more instead of less," she said on Tuesday. "Left-wing dreams" of a reduction in working hours "will not work out".
"More rather than less will be necessary," said Edtstadler at an event in the House of Industry. In the afternoon, her office told the "Krone" that the Minister was "clearly against a reduction in working hours", but that this should not be understood as a commitment to a 41-hour week. More incentives need to be created so that people "can get into employment and even full employment and performance finally pays off again". The recipes she has in mind are a reduction in ancillary wage costs, a full-time bonus and tax-free overtime.
Fighting "high wage settlements" and "countless public holidays"
Edtstadler identifies another problem in the "high wage settlements". The aim is not to burden the economy any further. This is why she has also withdrawn the national climate plan of her colleague Leonore Gewessler (Greens). This had not been coordinated and contained one-sided measures, some of which would not have been in Austria's interests.
The discussion about extending working hours without wage compensation was initiated by the Federation of Austrian Industries. On Monday, General Secretary Christoph Neumayer also spoke of a "vast number of public holidays" in Austria - an issue that needs to be addressed.
Trade union and SPÖ up in arms
Criticism came immediately from the trade union and the SPÖ. This is an "affront to the employees who have made our country one of the richest in Europe through their hard work", said GPA chairwoman Barbara Teiber. In her view, shorter working hours would be fair.
Klaus Seltenheim, Federal Managing Director of the SPÖ, expressed a similar view, seeing "the next attack on employees". Companies had benefited greatly from the increased productivity of the past decades, he said, and employees should "finally get a slice of the cake".
"Down with working hours and not up"
ÖGB Federal Managing Director Ingrid Reischl reacted "appalled" to Edtstadler's new statements: "The fact that the federal government is now joining the chorus led by the Federation of Austrian Industries and also calling for an extension of working hours is completely absurd. The motto must be down with working hours and not up."
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