The Chamber of Labour (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte'', shortform ''Arbeiterkammer'' or ''AK''), is an organisation that represents the interests of 4 million

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

employee Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a cor ...

s and

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or use purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

s. Membership is compulsory for all employees working in Austria, and it is thus not to be confused with Austrian

labour union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s, where membership is voluntary and which are organized in an umbrella organisation, the ÖGB. Together, the ÖGB and the Arbeiterkammer represent the interests of employees in the Austrian system of Sozialpartnerschaft (''"Social Partnership"''), which plays a major role in the regulation of wages and prices. The Austrian Chamber of Labour is based on the nine Chambers of labour for each federal state in Austria. The president of the Chamber of Labour for Vienna is also the president of the Austrian Chamber of Labour. Since 27 April 2018, Renate Anderl has been President of the Chamber of Labour.

Key tasks and resources

The tasks of the AK are described in § 1 AKG: "The Chambers of Labour and the Federal Chamber of Labour are called upon to represent and promote the social, economic, professional and cultural interests of employees." The AK carefully examine new legislation to ensure that workers are not taken advantage of. The Chamber also consult individuals with issues related to their jobs, apprenticeships, or public employment service (AMS). § 4 lists the means of fulfilling the legal mandate: for example, statements in legislative procedures, delegation of representatives to corporate bodies and other organisations, conducting scientific studies, advising and representing member

Another area of responsibility of the AK is

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

. As the education of employees is an important concern of the Chamber, it operates numerous publicly accessible libraries. The largest of these is the Social Science Study Library of the Chamber of Labour in Vienna. The Chamber of Labour also compiles the Working Climate Index (Arbeitsklima Index), an indicator for job and income satisfaction which was established in 1997.

Funding

All members must pay a membership contribution of 0.5 percent of their gross salary, which is deducted from their wages/salary as part of the social security contribution and transferred to the Chambers of Labour. As a result, the AK is financed "silently" and is hardly noticed by the members.

Elections

Every five years, the federal states hold

direct elections Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they want to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen ...

to choose a plenary assembly representative for each

federal state A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the c ...

. The nine elected plenary assemblies in turn elect nine provincial AK presidents. In the election, so-called parliamentary groups can be elected, the largest of which are affiliated with one of the major Austrian parties. Since the election in 1949, the FSG (Fraktion Sozialdemokratischer GewerkschafterInnen, afflilated with the

SPÖ The Social Democratic Party of Austria ( , SPÖ) is a social democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (, SDAPÖ) and later known as the Socialist Party of Austria () from 1945 unt ...

) has always won with an absolute majority.

History

The Chamber of Labour was founded in 1920 after the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy. During 1934 and 1938 the Chamber of Labour were integrated into the

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

unitary trade union centres. In 1938 they were liquidated by the

National Socialist Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

s.Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte (2010): The Chambers of Labour. Linz. After the war, the government passed the law on the re-establishment of the Chambers of Labour on 20 July 1945. Following increasing criticism of compulsory membership and tax-like financing the Chambers of Labour (AK) conducted a member survey in 1996. The question was: "Are you in favour of the Chamber for Workers and Salaried Employees remaining the legal representation of the interests of all employees?" It was answered in the affirmative by a clear majority.

References

External links

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Chamber of Labour
Labor in Austria Workers' rights organizations Consumer rights organizations Political organisations based in Austria Trade unions established in 1920 {{Austria-org-stub