Austria - Dispute over wages in tourism - April 30, 2026

While the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber's (WKÖ) hospitality industry association portrays rising personnel costs as a significant burden on businesses and their profitability, the Vida trade union strongly rejects this argument. The union emphasizes that the problem are not wages, but outdated business models. Employee representatives are particularly critical of the discrepancy between the publicly reported successes including record sales figures and the industry's description of the situation during collective bargaining rounds. According to union figures, the net starting wage for unskilled workers in the hospitality industry, at € 1.640,86, is currently below the poverty line of € 1.661. This low pay, combined with high workloads and uncertain work schedules, is cited as the main reason for the persistent staff shortage, as more and more skilled workers are migrating to other sectors.

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