Government calms over viral impact on economy

The politicians emphasized that the short-time working model had proven its worth here. The AUA has informed such from April 1 and the government and AMS. The exact details are still open. The AMS Board of Directors meets on Tuesday to discuss the concrete further procedure. The pot for short-time work is currently worth 20 million euros. However, this should be increased.

Jobs secured at AUA

“Regardless of the further procedure – what, when, how much – we as the federal government will work together with the social partners to ensure that jobs at the AUA remain secure and that there are no redundancies,” said Aschbacher. “Short-time work is a model that has proven itself in economically challenging times and secures jobs in Austria.”

The structure at the AUA is still open, so the costs are still open. There are no other applications yet. The Federal Government will in any case provide the necessary funds, said Aschbacher.

Schramböck: “Prepared for scenarios”

“We are prepared for different scenarios,” said Schramböck. Prevention is better than aftercare. “Uncertainties are poison for companies.” The Minister for Economic Affairs also wants to talk to the domestic banks. “You are asked not to make loans due early.” The situation will be mastered overall and pass, Schramböck reassured.

Short-time work: Union demands more funds

Meanwhile, the union demanded more funds from the federal government. According to the union, the 20 million euros initially earmarked for short-time work “are far from sufficient to free up the necessary funds for the AUA”. A reallocation of AMS funds will not do so, it said on Saturday at the GPA-djp at a press conference.

The current amount available “has essentially been exhausted for short-time work that has been approved so far”, Federal Managing Director of the Union of Private Employees, Printing, Journalism, Paper (GPA-djp) Karl Dürtscher was quoted in a press release. “In connection with the planned short-time work at Austrian Airlines, it will take more than just referring to the next board meeting of the AMS,” he said, Minister of Labor Aschbacher and Minister of Economics Schramböck.

The AUA works council chair (floor) Rene Pfister, who is currently negotiating short-time work, also called for the personnel management measures planned by the airline management to be suspended. “We all hope that the consequences of the Corona crisis will be overcome quickly. For these difficult times, employees need a level of security and predictability that we all have to work intensively on,” said Pfister. Short-time working was announced at the AUA on Friday from April 1.

The federal government had previously announced that it would assume liability for up to EUR 100 million in loans for hotels, which suffered more than 15 percent in sales losses due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In addition, there are guarantees for SMEs worth EUR 10 million, which can be called up via the aws.

(Source: APA)

–