When people look at what we stand for and
at our name in German, LKU (Liste Kritische Universität: FSG und Unabhängige – we’re critical, we’re
supported by the Social Democratic faction of the Union), they often look
askance at us, remarking that politics in their eyes has no place at a
university. It’s easy to see how short-sighted this view when you look at what
the Betriebsrat actually does at a university.
One of the routine tasks of a university Betriebsrat
is to help fill job vacancies. We review job descriptions, job advertisements and
appointment proposals. Sometimes it’s necessary that we participate in hiring
committee meetings; wherever conflicts arise or the interests of internal candidates
are at stake, we see to it that we send representatives to these meetings. We
don’t need union support for this kind of work.
On an individual level, advising colleagues
is also an important part of what we do. We intervene constantly on behalf of
our colleagues on various issues, such as parental part-time leave and
arrangements for returning to work after a longer illness, but also in major
conflict situations such as workplace bullying, sexual harassment and threatened
firings. In these situations, support from the union is usually helpful and
often necessary.
At the local collective level, it is
important to negotiate policies that improve the quality of work and of life for
as many employees as possible. The most effective way to do this is to sign
binding workplace agreements. Compared
to other (informal) agreements, they function as written contracts that complement
our Collective
Bargaining Agreement. In drafting these agreements, the Betriebsrat often
needs outside legal expertise, which the Union’s legal department can provide
us.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement is
negotiated by the Union and the National
University Federation. Only through involvement in union decision-making
processes can a local Betriebsrat receive information on negotiations and can
(at least indirectly) exert influence on negotiations. The LKU is represented on
the extended federal executive committee and is part of GÖD leadership in the
State of Salzburg. At this level, we’re involved in concerted efforts to
improve the pay and contract situation employees in the B1 salary schedule
(senior scientists, senior lecturers, postdocs, doctoral students).
The LKU is also heavily involved in the FSG-GÖD working group “Ausgegliederte Institutionen” [Outsourced Institutions]. The group
is a network of institutions that were quasi-privatized by the right-wing Schüssel
government. Besides the universities, other institutions include the national
museums, the national library, the national theaters, Statistics Austria, the
Federal Environmental Agency, the Financial Market Authority, the Labor Market
Service, and many more. This FSG initiative became necessary because all of these
institutions face the same problems: their employees work for less money and
under worse conditions than civil servants who do the exact same jobs. And all
of these outsourced institutions are chronically underfunded by the Austrian
federal government.
This FSG-GÖD working group makes sure that
the concerns of the employees are heard by Chamber of Labor and the Austrian
parliament so that they can be addressed at the national level. At the urging of our Outsourced Institutions
working group, SPÖ MP Selma
Yldirim submitted a motion in parliament for the budgets of outsourced
institutions to receive automatic annual increases based on inflation.
While a lot can certainly be achieved with a
strong Betriebsrat, these achievements can quickly fade if they aren’t part of
long-term initiatives that go beyond our university. A strong Betriebsrat fights
for the interests of the staff it represents – and this work is inherently
political. It’s therefore essential that a Betriebsrat, especially in large
organizations like universities, coordinate its activities with the union.
You can support us – and yourself – by voting
in the Betriebsrat
elections on July 11 and 12 and by becoming a union member.
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