Contribution of the Party of Labour of Austria

Dear comrades,

We would like to thank the Communist Party of the Workers of Spain for organising this meeting. We wish to build on the contribution we made at the ECA meeting in Paris last year. There, we attempted to provide an insight into how trade unions are organised in Austria and the extent of the influence of social democracy and the labour aristocracy on trade unions in Austria.

Three years ago, in the autumn of 2023, retail employees in Austria went on strike for the first time. This is a sector which, despite a high level of monopolisation by European and international standards, had long been ignored by the trade unions. It is only in the past 10 to 15 years that systematic organising work has taken place.

However, in the case of the Austrian trade unions, organising does not mean that the union attempts to establish union groups in the shops and supermarkets. It means that the union leadership enters into negotiations with the companies regarding the establishment of a workers' council; if these negotiations are successful, the union gains access to the supermarkets and shops of the respective company and recruits members with offers and vouchers for the union. Sometimes the company itself suggests employees who could stand as candidates for the workers' council, or the union itself seeks out employees who wish to stand as candidates for the workers' council. It is extremely rare for a company to oppose the election of a workers' council; by law, such a council has the task of mediating between employees and management.

In autumn 2023, against the backdrop of high inflation in Austria, public confrontations between trade unions and companies occurred in many sectors for the first time in many years.

At the same time, the policy of the trade union leadership served as a lesson in how the labour aristocracy and social democracy stifle strikes. By the time wage negotiations began, strikes had already broken out in the metal industry, and there were threats of strikes in the care, health and social sectors. As in other sectors this year, employers resisted and refused from the outset to grant a pay rise above the rate of inflation; with rolling inflation at 9.5 per cent, they made derisory offers of 3 to 5 per cent or even refused to make an offer at all.

Instead of organising a cross-sector strike to achieve greater strength for workers and employees, trade union leaders and members of the workers' councils (MWC) delayed wage negotiations for retail employees until a wage settlement had been reached in the metal industry and in the care, health and social sectors. Or, to put it another way, the industrial action in the metal industry was abruptly halted the moment industrial action by retail employees was on the cards, and in the care, health and social sectors it was cancelled altogether. Instead, an agreement below the rate of inflation was accepted in both sectors.

When it came to preparing for the strikes, one of our comrades took part in a strike workshop organised by the union. At these workshops, the union explains to the MWCs how the strikes should be conducted. During these workshops, the MWCs were told that on the strike days, they must hold a staff meeeting in the stores and shops that are going on strike, and a decision to strike must be taken there. The supermarket manager must then be informed that a strike is taking place. During the strike, the strikers are to retreat to the break room and, ideally, have two strike pickets secure it from the outside to ensure that none of the bosses have the opportunity to influence the strikers. Any communication with the outside world must be strictly avoided, as all communication must go through the union leadership. A gathering in front of the shop was strongly discouraged, as this would constitute a breach of the Assembly Act.

Our comrade, who works in a grocery shop himself, then asked what would happen if employees in a store are ready to strike but there was no MWC on site to call a staff meeting; he wanted to know whether the union leadership would support such a store if it were to join the strike on the day of the strike. The union’s response was that such a strike would have no backing whatsoever from the union and must be avoided at all costs, because the union would be unable to provide any legal support to the strikers in the event of repression in such a case.

Indeed, the sheer absurdity of the union leadership’s approach to keeping these strikes under control became apparent in our comrade’s hometown during one of the warning strikes in December. At that time, there was a strike in a shopping center and whilst the strikers locked themselves inside their shops, the full-time union officials held a rally outside the shopping centre without giving a single striker the opportunity to take part in the rally. Nor did a larger or even a widespread strike ever materialise in the retail sector, as the sheer number of stores, shops and supermarkets meant that only individual stores could ever be targeted.

After warning strikes by retail employees had taken place throughout December, retail workers also decided to hold warning strikes. Five days after the workers had decided to strike, the trade union representing retail employees signed a wage increase that was below the rate of inflation.

This example clearly illustrates the problems we face in Austria when it comes to the situation of the working class, the trade unions and workers' struggles.