"Krone" commentary

Traditional couple wants shorter working hours

The state of Austria's economy is well known: Unfortunately not good, the location is no longer attractive, the companies are no longer competitive in international competition, the wage rounds were twice as high as in Germany, energy is still much more expensive than elsewhere, in short: what to do? The normal reaction would be to do everything possible to make the state and the economy more efficient so that we can win tenders again. One way to do this is to work harder.

But what does the President of the Chamber of Labor, Renate Anderl, call out to the public: "We have to reduce working hours, 30 or 35 hours, that's a matter for negotiation."

Well, the Chinese & Co will have a great time: these Austrians! Instead of becoming more competitive and working more, they are taking the opposite approach. They want to reduce working hours as a "miracle cure". Soon the rich Asians will be boating in Austria's Salzkammergut and watching the quaint locals go fishing. They are no longer competitors for the Asians.

How did the President (gross salary 14,491.94 euros) come up with this idea? Well, the Chamber of Labor has a de facto monopoly, each of the four million employees has to pay a contribution (ten euros per month on average). This not only feeds 3100 chamber employees, but also leads to hundreds of millions of euros in financial reserves. Babler & Anderl, a traditional couple of the reduction in working hours ...