KV: commercial employees receive 1.5 percent more salary – Coronavirus Vienna

In economically difficult times due to the crown, the social partners agreed on a new collective trade agreement in the first round of negotiations just under eleven hours.

The salaries of the 415,000 employees and the compensation of the 18,000 apprentices will increase by 1.5 percent as of January 1, 2021. It corresponds to the average inflation rate of the last twelve months.

For comparison: employers and the union agreed in late September on a 1.45 percent wage increase for the metal industry. Traditionally, metalworkers always close significantly higher than retail.

The union-required crown employee bonus is not part of the new collective bargaining agreement. However, the social partners agreed on a request to companies that can afford to pay a premium of at least 150 euros. However, there is a mandatory bonus of 150 euros for retail trainees who were exempted from homeschooling by regulation during the shutdown and taken to work.

“It was not an easy road this year,” WKÖ commercial president Rainer Trefelik told reporters after negotiations on Wednesday. With the conclusion you can “ensure the desired purchasing power”. There are also signs from large commercial companies that they want to pay the Corona employee voluntary bonus, the commerce president said. “The bonus should go to employees this year and have a positive effect on the consumer mood for Christmas in Austrian retail,” Trefelik said. Rewe (Billa, Bipa, Merkur, Penny) announced a second Corona bonus for the 40,000 employees after KV negotiations on Wednesday night. A “single-digit million dollar amount” will be used for this, he said.

“With the agreement, the special economic conditions of the trade were taken into account and a sustainable real wage increase was achieved for all employees,” said GPA-djp chief union negotiator Anita Palkovich. “Coupled with the legal improvements, it’s a presentable result that business employees will benefit from in the long run.” In the case of excessively long working hours, the rest periods would be extended and on New Year’s Eve a surcharge was charged from 1 pm, according to the union. In addition, changes to the Saturday regime would make it easier for part-time workers to work over the weekend. These changes to the framework law will take effect on December 1.

In addition, the deadline for the change to the new KV salary system for companies will be extended by one month until January 1, 2022. Since the end of 2017 there has been a new commercial KV with higher starting salaries, since then the period has been running transition for companies.

The KV negotiations took place under difficult circumstances due to the crown crisis. The economic effects of the corona pandemic affected the retail industry very differently. While food retailers, electronics chains, hardware stores and furniture stores posted growth in sales, revenue in the textile, footwear and motor vehicle trade plummeted.

The trade association, a voluntary representation of the interests of some 3,000 companies, welcomed the KV title in light of the worst economic crisis since World War II. “In this difficult context, we congratulate the negotiating partners on the agreement. Employees and employers are making an important contribution to maintaining jobs in Austrian commerce,” said Rainer Will, managing director of the trade association.