Horror in the WKO

“Disaster” – now Mahrer is coming under internal pressure

The boss of the Chamber of Commerce has angered many officials.(Bild: Imre Antal)

An icy wind is blowing against Chamber of Commerce President Harald Mahrer. His amateurish approach to the salary debate is causing horror in the regional chambers. "This is a disaster, a big mistake and it has cost a lot of trust," says Barbara Thaler, President of the Tyrolean Chamber of Commerce, in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper.

Thaler has no problem with the figures themselves (4.2 percent). "But the way they were communicated should not have been done. Because it not only hurt the employees, but also the officials." "I am really personally shocked and devastated," says Thaler.

Barbara Thaler is personally "shocked and devastated".(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

When asked whether Mahrer is still viable as President, Tahler does not answer, only this much: "My primary concern is to get the organization back on track and repair the damage to its reputation, and that will take a lot of hard work." The mistakes will now be "worked through in very intensive discussions". "It's absolutely important to do this, to put everything on the table and start again. The organization's reputation also needs that."

I've lost the word "average".

Harald Mahrer

Doris Hummer from Upper Austria expressed similar sentiments in the "Oberösterreichische Nachrichten" newspaper: "I am personally shocked. I have never experienced anything like this in my time at the Chamber of Commerce. That was amateurish communication."

Mahrer had to come out with the whole truth on krone.tv.(Bild: krone.tv)

Mahrer himself admits mistakes in communication, but sees no reason to resign. "I have listened to the criticism and have listened over the last few days. And I have to say: we have made mistakes." Mahrer rejected the repeated accusation of "deceptive packaging". It was "not intentional", he emphasized. On ORF radio, he put his total income at 28,500 euros, twelve times a year.

Mahrer had initially announced a halving of the adjustment factor from 4.2 to 2.1 percent following fierce criticism of the comparatively lavish salary adjustments in the Chamber of Commerce and said that he had "put his foot down".

However, it soon emerged that not only the salaries but also the truth had been halved. Employees will only receive no increase at all in the first half of the year and the full 4.2 percent in the second. This puts the starting value for 2026 at 4.2 percent.