The few flags do their best to remain steadfast in the very brisk wind. Their porters, the food suppliers and bicycle messengers from Lieferando and Foodora (formerly mjam), are doing the same: They stood in front of the Climate Ministry on Tuesday with plastic ponchos for better working conditions and more money. In the wind and rain.
“Standing here in this weather is the reality of the bicycle messengers,” says Roman Hebenstreit, chairman of the vida union. Even in the rain, the bicycle messengers would do their work and bring the “essentials”, such as food, to people at home.
Multiple fronts
On Tuesday, the rain and wind could also have been partly to blame for the fact that only around 30 people showed up for the demo. “We expected a little more, but we are currently fighting on several fronts,” says a spokesman for vida. There were also rallies and company meetings on Tuesday in front of Lieferando locations in Salzburg and Linz. Those affected are correspondingly exhausted.
The reason for the protest by the bicycle messengers from the platform companies Foodora and Lieferando is the stalled collective agreement negotiations. After four rounds of negotiations, the employers’ offer remained at 5.8 percent, according to the union. “That doesn’t even cover the rolling inflation of 8.7 percent demanded by the union,” was the criticism from employee representatives.
Premature end
Only around half of the industry’s total of around 4,000 to 5,000 employees are employed under the collective agreement. Many are employed as freelancers. “But for us it’s not just about the form of employment, but rather about fair conditions and the same protection for everyone,” says Hebenstreit. And recalled the “Austria Plan” by Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) and the performance principle. “We will only end the fight for fair wages when the Chancellor has kept his promise of prosperity for all,” concluded Hebenstreit.
At least on Thursday the protest ended early. The demonstration no longer moved from the Climate Ministry to the Labor Ministry as originally planned. Instead, the demonstration was broken up after half an hour and the few people present were sent out to dry. Ape
2024-03-12 17:41:10
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