Twelve hours of intensive talks brought no agreement: from midnight, rail traffic in Austria was idle for 24 hours. Both the Vida union and the Austrian Federal Railways blame each other for this.
In Austria, rail traffic across the country came to a standstill on Monday due to a strike. International connections are already affected from this Sunday evening. The Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) announced that the reason for this was failed negotiations on a new collective agreement for railway workers. "Unfortunately, after more than twelve hours of intensive talks, the social partners were unable to reach an agreement," the statement said. Therefore, the Vida union has scheduled a warning strike for Monday from midnight to midnight.
Cross-border rail traffic and night travel are also affected, it said. There will be failures in the Nightjet and EuroNight connections from Sunday evening to Tuesday morning. According to its own statements, ÖBB informed its passengers as a precaution on Friday. Attempts are being made to postpone unnecessary journeys or to choose alternative travel options.
The employee representatives of the transport and service union Vida had recently demanded 400 euros more on all collective agreements and actual wages for a total of 50,000 railway workers. According to the union, that would mean an average salary increase of more than 13 percent.
"I have absolutely no understanding of this strike. The employers' side made the highest offer of all sectors with 8.44 percent. It is clearly a willful strike by the union," said ÖBB boss Andreas Matthä. The manager apologized to the affected passengers. "It pains me that our passengers are being affected in this way," he said. ÖBB will do everything in its power to restart operations as quickly as possible.
The union, on the other hand, speaks of a "bogus offer". The original offer of 200 euros monthly fixed amount has only been increased by eight euros. "Eight euros do not avert a warning strike," said Gerhard Tauchner, deputy chairman of the railway department in the vida union. The responsibility for the strike lies solely with the Chamber of Commerce, it said. The negotiators had tried all night to find a solution at the negotiating table. "We are fighting for a sustainable cost-of-living adjustment that, in the course of skyrocketing prices, will give greater relief to lower and middle incomes in particular," said Tauchner.
Employer chief negotiator Thomas Scheiber described the demands as excessive and the procedure as irresponsible. "The union is taking the entire industry and its customers hostage with their unrealistic demands. I apologize to all passengers, we were no longer able to avert the strike with the union's actions," said Scheiber.
