New collective agreement in retail: strike averted!

After intensive negotiations and massive protests, the trade area has succeeded in concluding a new collective agreement (KV) for the next two years. This KV for 2025 and 2026 was signed on Tuesday evening, after more than five rounds of negotiations. The GPA union and employers have agreed on a salary increase of 3.9 percent for the coming year, while an increase of 0.5 percent above inflation is only planned for 2026, but only if it remains below two percent. This agreement is relieved, since the previous negotiations were under considerable public pressure after protests in Linz and Vienna took place last week, which demanded an agreement, such as Vol.at reported.

The talks started on October 23, with the union initially demanding a salary increase of 4.8 percent. In the beginning, employers only offered 2.8 percent. In the last rounds of negotiations, both sides had to develop “painful compromises”. Veronika Arnost, the chief negotiator of the GPA, emphasized that although there was no reason for exaggerated jubilation, the agreed increase under the current difficult economic conditions was necessary. Rainer Treelik, chairman of the WKO federal division trade, also commented on the special economic situation of the industry, which made this agreement necessary, so orf.at .

apprentices benefit considerably

Especially for apprentices there is good news: the remuneration for the first year of apprenticeship increases by an impressive 14 percent to 1,000 euros per month. Increases are also planned for the further years of apprenticeship. The KV applies from January 1 and not only offers employees a certain predictability in the currently tense situation, but also to employers. Experts emphasize that the agreement could create an important basis for reforms in the industry, since the current inflation is still under control with 1.8 percent according to the statistics Austria. This could help the trade employees to find their way around the upcoming economic challenge and to focus on the upcoming Christmas business.