ÖGB-Reischl: "No understanding for statements by Minister Kocher on collective agreements and unemployment"

2023-04-20 06:52:06

Senior secretary of the ÖGB calls for higher compensation tax for more opportunities for older workers and people with disabilities

Vienna (OTS) – Ingrid Reischl, Executive Secretary of the ÖGB, sharply rejects the statements made by Labor Minister Martin Kocher in today’s Kurier: “Anyone who describes collective agreements as a ‘stumbling block’ in the fight against unemployment has not understood the application and importance of collective agreements. For new hires, only a limited amount of previous service is taken into account, regardless of the age of the employee.”

On the other hand, the Minister of Labor is spot on with his assessment that older workers with a disability in particular have a hard time in the world of work, says Reischl: “For this very reason, it is all the more incomprehensible that Minister Kocher should have paid too much for the high unemployment among older people with disabilities responsible. Anyone who complains about a shortage of workers, but at the same time often doesn’t even give older people and people with disabilities a chance of finding a job, proves that great potential is simply being ignored here!”

Reischl also insists on increasing the compensatory tax to such an extent that it “is also an incentive for employers to hire people with disabilities. There must finally be an end to the fact that companies can buy their freedom cheaply. Only if it is not more attractive for employers to buy their way out will the number of people with disabilities who are unemployed decrease.”