Renate Anderl: Government measures are “not balanced”. She calls for “joint initiative”.
The Chamber of Labor is demanding a plan from the government for the time after Corona: “We are missing any strategy on how we will be better off after the crisis,” said AK President Renate Anderl at a press conference on Tuesday. A joint initiative is needed. She criticized the fact that the government's previous measures had been “not balanced” because the aid for workers and consumers was always limited in time.
“Not all of them got through the crisis equally well,” stated Anderl at the presentation of the AK “Justice Check” of the government's work in the first Corona year. Many measures should have been taken “faster, more fairly and more easily planned”. Anderl believes that the coalition should have got off to a quick start in the field of schools. The measures for employees and consumers such as short-time work or deferrals are always limited in time, other groups such as farmers receive permanent help, which is “an unjust imbalance,” said Anderl.
Short-time work still necessary
Together with the ÖGB, the AK had reached many regulations, for example in terms of home office, special care hours or short-time work. Anderl is convinced that the latter will still need it over the summer and autumn. From the point of view of the AK President, more support is needed in the event of unemployment during the pandemic. “One-time payments are nice” but didn't solve the problem. There was an urgent need to raise unemployment benefits to 70 percent, and she appealed just under three weeks before the increased emergency assistance to expire to extend this assistance.
For the time after the crisis, Anderl would like the country to be in a better position than before. But that would require a major joint initiative by the federal government and the social partners, she suggested. Anderl sees a need for action in the areas of labor market and education, for example. A large package is needed to get out of the crisis, affirmed AK director Christoph Klein.
Fought for 511 million euros
The AK also presented a performance record for the past year: there were almost 3.8 million members and 2.4 million consultations on labor law, tax law or consumer protection, with the number of consultations increasing by almost 15 protests compared to 2019. The biggest topic was short-time working, in the area of consumer protection, unusual trips and events, explained Klein. Around 75,000 judicial and extrajudicial representations were recorded. Overall, the AK got more than 511 million euros for members from courts, authorities or employers.
