Chamber of Labor appeal

Training and short-time work to save the economy

The Chamber of Labor and the trade union are also taking steps to support the economy and, above all, industry in times of recession and make it fit for the future.

"We have lost the battle of the cheapest hands. It's not taking place in Austria or Europe, but in Asia," explains Günther Goach, President of the Carinthian Chamber of Labor. "We have to win the battle for the best brains! This includes good, solid, qualified specialist training." In our own training center in Villach, which is currently being expanded, companies can also use the training workshop to train their own employees.

We have lost the battle of the cheapest hands. We have to win the battle of the best brains!

AK-Präsident Günther Goach

"Highly qualified skilled workers have a much easier time on the labor market. This is particularly important in times of an economic downturn," Goach continues. "We are working together with the social partners and 36 companies to create a high employment rate. We are making human capital available to the economy."

Short-time work as an important instrument
Reinhold Binder, Federal Chairman of the PRO-GE trade union, is also focusing on training: "This is how we look to the future. Austria can continue to be proud of its industrial base. I think this death song is just shabby." However, he also wants to use another instrument to combat the slump. "I don't understand why short-time working is no longer being used. It is clearly more important that people stay in work," explains Binder. "We have to make this instrument available to companies, but only as a stopgap, of course."

Goach and Binder want to focus on skilled workers.(Bild: Felix Justich)

Goach and Binder do not believe in cutting non-wage labor costs: "In the end, it's only the employees who pay for it. It's shabby to put the welfare state in such a stranglehold." Instead, they are calling for a stronger training offensive and a close alliance with politicians.