NATIONAL LABOUR MARKET POLICIES
Basic Information Reports
2.3.3.Employee representation in enterprises and scope for participation
Employee representation in enterprises is regulated by the Workplace Labour Relations Act.
Works councils must be elected in all companies which regularly employ at least five employees who are eligible to vote.
If both blue-collar workers and salaried employees meet this condition, a works council is to be elected for each group. Where there are separate works councils the works committee functions as the joint representative body.
The number of works council members depends on the number of employees in the company.
The works council represents all the employees in the company, regardless of union membership.
The members of the works council are elected on the basis of equal, direct and secret suffrage; on principle, the mode of election is by proportional representation. Works councils are elected for a period of four years.
Voting rights are extended to all employees - including foreigners - in the company and are at least 18 years of age on the date of the works meeting convened to elect the electoral committee.
The right to stand for election is reserved for Austrian nationals and employees from countries which are parties to the EEA Treaty.
Board executives and directors of legal entities as well as senior staff with executive authority are not considered employees in the sense of the Workplace Labour Relations Act. They are thus neither entitled to vote nor are they eligible to stand for election to the works council.
The works council may pass a resolution to collect a levy from employees in order to cover the costs of running the council, building and maintaining welfare facilities and carrying out welfare schemes to the benefit of the workforce and former employees of the company. The levy may not exceed .5% of gross wages.
Works council members hold office on an honorary basis. They must be granted the necessary paid time off for performing their duties. One or more works council members - depending on the size of the workforce - must be wholly relieved from their company duties in enterprises with over 150 employees.
Works council members may not be subject to any disadvantages as a result of exercising their mandate and enjoy special protection against termination of their employment contract and against dismissal.
Other employees' representative bodies:
A works meeting is a convention of the entire workforce of a company with a staff of at least five employees aged over 18 years.
If an enterprise comprises several companies, a central works council is established at enterprise level. The members of the central works council are elected by the total membership of the company works councils.
A youth council must be established in companies which regularly employ at least five young employees.
A company group works council may be established in consolidated companies in which works councils exist in more than one of the sub-companies.
The function of the works council is to protect the economic, social, health-related and cultural interests of employees, and it is invested with the following powers in order to fulfil these tasks:
General powers: these include supervisory powers with respect to the observance of legal regulations which affect the employees in the company, rights of intervention (proposals to the employer in the interests of the employees), rights of information (e.g. the right to information relating to matters which concern the interests of the employees); the proprietor of the company is obliged to consult with the works council at least every quarter or once a month if the works council so desires.
Participation in social affairs: participation in decisions which concern the workforce - in part or whole - of the company, such as the right to information and counselling with respect to in-plant training, company welfare facilities, the conclusion of internal agreements regarding generally applicable working conditions.
Participation in personnel affairs concerns the participation of an enterprise's works council as the representative of the workforce in individual decisions by the proprietor with respect to staff, e.g. contract terminations and dismissals, recruitments, transfer or promotion of employees, compensation rates for services rendered, imposition of disciplinary measures, allocation of company apartments and termination of employment contracts by common consent.
Participation in economic affairs refers to the management of the enterprise and encompasses, for example, the right to information and consultation with respect to the economic circumstances of the company, the right to inspect the annual accounts and the right to codetermination where changes are planned.
Participation on the supervisory board:
The central works council - or works council if the enterprise consists of only one company - is represented on the supervisory boards of public limited companies, limited liability companies, mutual insurance companies, cooperatives with a regular staff of at least 40, the Austrian post office savings bank, and the council for savings banks and its sub-committees.
For every two members appointed in accordance with the law or the statutes by the shareholders, one workers' representative is entitled to a seat and a vote (one-third participation).
Moreover, in holding companies without employees and whose activities are limited to managing company shares, the workers' representatives from the controlling subsidiaries are also entitled to participate on the supervisory board.
Following the implementation of EU Directive 94/45 EG, a special bargaining commission - the European Works Council - and a procedure for informing and consulting the employees were added to the Workplace Labour Relations Act. These regulations apply to enterprises and groups of enterprises whose headquarters are on Austrian territory and which employ at least 1,000 employees in the Member States of the European Union, of whom 150 are employed in at least each of two Member States.
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