Lavish salaries

Salary paradise also at the Chamber of Labor and ÖGB

AK-OÖ boss Stangl (left) earns 13,456 euros gross per month, federal boss Anderl even more. But there are also top earners in the ÖGB.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Markus Wenzel, Mario Urbantschitsch, Gerhard Bartel, HANS KLAUS TECHT / APA / picturedesk.com)

The Chamber of Commerce is not the only institution that treats its officials and top employees to high salaries - salaries on the employee side are also impressive. You get what you deserve.

For example, Chamber of Labor President Renate Anderl - who is also the head of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce - earns even more per year than her counterpart Harald Mahrer. To be precise, she earns 14,492 euros gross per month, but unlike Mahrer, she earns 14 times as much per year. This brings her annual salary to over 200,000 euros, while Mahrer "only" receives a good 180,000 euros.

Anderl's salary is based on a law; she receives 140 percent of a member of the National Council. In 2022 it was 1300 euros less. There will be zero salary rounds this year and probably also in 2026.

Director's salary is higher than that of a federal minister
However, AK Director Silvia Hruška-Frank, who earns EUR 20,638 per month, earns even more than a federal minister.

AK-OÖ boss Stangl (left) earns 13,456 euros gross per month, federal boss Anderl even more. But there are also top earners in the ÖGB.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Markus Wenzel, Mario Urbantschitsch, Gerhard Bartel, HANS KLAUS TECHT / APA / picturedesk.com)

(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

But salaries are not only high at the very top, but also in the federal states. The head of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor, Andreas Stangl, receives 130 percent of the salary of a member of the National Council, 13,457 euros, 14 times a year. Director Andrea Heimberger, like Hruška-Frank, receives over 20,000 euros, according to the disclosure on the website.

In Styria, too, the commitment against wage restraint is taken seriously. The President receives 13,198 euros gross per month, while the Director receives 19,683 euros. In the provinces, there are also deputy directors who receive 80 to 90 percent of the director's salary.

We have a clear conscience, we're attached to the Salary Limitation Act. Last year, all AK presidents received a zero pay round.

Renate Anderl, AK-Präsidentin

Nobody goes home with less than 6900 euros net
In the other countries, the AK reports remuneration partly net, partly alternating between net and gross. "In the general assemblies, the function fees can be reduced downwards," says the AK. However, a comparison shows that nobody goes home with less than 6900 euros net at the end of the month.

27-member ÖGB executive board with lavish salaries too
The bottom line is usually not much different in the ÖGB either. The trade union federation states the net salaries of the 27 members of the executive board on its website. However, this includes all salaries, including those of National Councillors, party functionaries and board members. How the income is made up and how much of it is attributable to trade union functions, for example, is not shown. Not only taxes and social security contributions are deducted, but also party contributions, which is somewhat original.

Incidentally, ÖGB boss Wolfgang Katzian does not collect the most. The top earner with 9789 euros net per month - over 18,000 euros gross - is the black civil servant representative Eckehard Quin. In second place is the head of the Vienna City Employees' Health Insurance Fund, Norbert Pelzer, with 9682 euros. Third place goes to Reinhold Binder, the boss of the metalworkers' union, who also earns money as a member of the National Council and board member of the red FSG parliamentary group. In total, he earns 9586 euros per month (a good 17,000 euros gross). In 4th place is another civil servant trade unionist: ÖGB Vice President Romana Deckenbacher receives 9530 euros. She is followed by Katzian with 9510 euros net.

Upper limit at ÖGB at 10,216 euros net per month
The salaries do not only come from the ÖGB, but very much from taxpayers' money. Building trade unionist and FSG boss Josef Muchitsch and GPA boss Barbara Teiber earn between 8,000 and 9,000 euros net per month, which is probably 13,000 to 14,000 euros gross, so they earn the majority as national councillors. All 27 board members are below the limit of 10,216 euros, according to the ÖGB.