Joint commission for price and wage issues

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The Joint Commission for Price and Wage Issues is a central instrument of the Austrian social partnership .

The Joint Commission (PKPL) was founded in 1957 and was initially an informal system of voluntary cooperation between employers 'and workers' organizations and with government representatives. Associations of employers ( Federal Chamber of Commerce ), agriculture ( presidential conference of the Austrian Chambers of Agriculture ) and employees ( Federal Chamber of Labor and ÖGB ) are involved.

The PKPL is made up of

As an informal body, the commission is not provided for in the Austrian Federal Constitution or in any other laws or regulations. However, it cannot make any binding decisions.

Both employers' organizations (Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture) and two employee organizations (Chamber of Labor and ÖGB) are represented in the commission. Both sides are shaped by different political camps: While the conservative ÖVP dominates on the corporate side , the workers are supported by the social democratic SPÖ . On the basis of this political differentiation, other employment interests are also represented indirectly.

Government representatives as well as functionaries from employers 'associations and workers' organizations are represented equally in the PKPL. Two government representatives are integrated on both the employee side and the business side. Among workers, the Interior Minister and the Minister for Social Affairs, on the employers' side of the part traditionally Chancellor and the Secretary of Commerce (Economics Minister). Since after the dissolution of the grand coalition at the end of the 1960s there was a risk of destroying the balance between employers and employees, the government ministers decided to cast their voting rights and have only acted in an advisory capacity since then.

The work in the PKPL is characterized by special mechanisms. This includes:

  • The PKPL has no collective bargaining autonomy (i.e. it does not negotiate wages), but has to approve collective bargaining, which is used to control the time parameter of collective bargaining.
  • There is no competence with regard to wage guidelines. Nevertheless, a certain negotiating framework is set (unofficially).
  • Resolutions of the PKPL must be made unanimously, which creates a high pressure of compromise for the negotiating partners.

In the course of EU accession and internationalization, but also the various market openings, the importance of the Commission has taken a back seat. In the area of ​​prices in particular, no regulations have been made since 1994.

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