Candidate search and election call for the next Staff Council election in November 2025

On October 10, at this year's general staff assembly, we gave an overview of the Academic Staff Council’s work in recent months. Furthermore, in preparation for the Staff Council election in November 2025 and the associated search for candidates for the election proposal, the work as a Staff Council member at WU was presented in detail. In the following article, we would also like to give this overview to all employees who did not attend the general staff assembly.

At Austrian universities, the Universities Act stipulates that the group of scientific staff elects its own staff council. Only members of scientific staff (excluding external lecturers under a freelance service contract and certain senior employees, such as members of the Rector's Council and department chairs) are entitled to vote and stand for election. The task of the Academic Staff Council (wissBR) is to represent and promote all economic, social, health and cultural interests of these WU employees.

In concrete terms, this means that the members of the Academic Staff Council are able to represent the interests of WU's scientific employees vis-à-vis the Rector’s Council by participating in various committees and working groups. In many areas, the wissBR has the legally standardized opportunity to actively address specific issues with the Rector’s Council and it must be actively involved in some areas, especially in those matters where operational agreements (OA) are required. For example, several operational agreements, such as the OA Performance Bonuses, the OA Business Travel and the OA on the extent of the teaching load for part-time teaching and research associates (predocs), were recently renegotiated. Staff Council members are also important contacts for direct communication with employees. For example, the wissBR recently addressed the additional teaching workload associated with the new Bachelor's degree programmes as well as the teething troubles surrounding the digitalization offensive in the administration. It raised these issues with the Rector’s Council and the responsible service units and has been able, in the best case scenario, to mitigate them. Another important part of the Staff Council's work is the dissemination of information among employees, for example at topic-specific events (like the company pension plan, the occupational severance pay or the employee assessment) and via the newsletter. The Staff Council also carries out important networking with other interest groups, such as the Chamber of Labour and the trade union.

The Academic Staff Council at WU currently consists of 14 main members and up to 14 substitute members. The main members or, if individual main members are unable to attend, the corresponding number of substitute members, meet once a month to discuss and inform each other about their activities since the last meeting. If necessary, the resolutions required for the conclusion of operational agreements are also passed at these meetings. Likewise, the resolutions of the Staff Council required in the context of personnel participation rights in the event of transfers or certain contract terminations are prepared and passed at these regular meetings.

The term of office of the Staff Council is five years; the next period at WU starts on January 1, 2026 and therefore runs until December 31, 2030, with the election taking place in November 2025. It would be important to ensure a broad representation of all departments and staff categories in the future Academic Staff Council. At this point, we would like to invite anyone who is interested in joining the WU Academic Staff Council in the future to contact one of the currently active Staff Council members (an overview can be found here https://www.wu.ac.at/universitaet/organisation/interessensvertretungen/betriebsrat-fuer-das-wissenschaftliche-personal/mitglieder/hauptmitglieder) at any time or to contact us at wiss.betriebsrat@wu.ac.at. Political party or trade union membership or involvement is neither a prerequisite nor an obstacle for participation and standing as an election candidate; participation in the Academic Staff Council is completely independent of either.

All scientific employees can give the work of the Academic Staff Council a strong mandate by taking part in the upcoming Staff Council election and casting their vote.

^07.11.2024

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