With the start of this years’ salary negotiations for employees covered by the university Collective Bargaining Agreement, we would also like to provide some information on the role of the trade union and its tasks.

A trade union is an association based on voluntary membership whose task is to represent the interests of its members. The main aim of the trade union is to improve the working conditions of employees. In contrast to the Staff Council, which is responsible for representing interests within a company or business, a union is responsible for representing interests across companies (e.g. for an industry). In particular, it is responsible for representing the employee side in negotiations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. However, a union is also politically active and takes initiatives on legal regulations or issues statements on them.

The trade union also provides legal protection and legal information in employment matters for its members, offers educational support for its members and, in particular, Staff Councils, and provides various other advisory and support services.

The union responsible for university employees is the Union of Public Services (GÖD; https://www.goed.at/ ), which is currently the second largest union within the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB). As of December 31, 2022, the GÖD had just over 260,000 members and has seen a steady increase in membership in recent years. Within the GÖD, there are federal representations for the various occupational groups. Federal Representation 13 (BV13; https://unigewerkschaft-bv13.goed.at/ ) is responsible for academic and artistic university staff, while Federal Representation 16 (BV16) is responsible for administrative staff.

There are factions within the ÖGB, some of which are close to political parties. The strongest factions in the GÖD are the Christian Trade Unionists' Group ¹ (FCG), the Social Democratic Trade Unionists' Group¹ (FSG) and the Independent Trade Unionists¹ (UG). The distribution of power between the factions is based on the results of the staff representation and Staff Council elections in the public sector and outsourced federal companies, such as universities.

The GÖD's work program is decided by the voting delegates at the federal congress, which takes place every five years. The current work program for the years 2023-2028 can be found here (in German only).

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¹ own translation