Discretion and (de)centralization in wage bargaining in the construction, hospitality, urban transport and waste management sectors

Abstract

This report identifies and analyses the wage setting practices in Austria, focusing on four specific sectors – construction, hospitality, urban transport, and waste management. As part of the BARWAGE project, the report seeks to understand how exactly wage is setting in these sectors, with a focus on low-wage workers (if relevant) is occurring, which actors are involved, what is the starting point of this process and where does it lead to in terms of institutional stability or change of the wage setting institutions. The findings show that in the highly coordinated bargaining system in Austria, wage setting at the centralized level leaves little discretion for negotiating wages at the company level. Even if wage levels vary across firms and sectors, the way in which parts of the wage are subject to individual discretion or company-level bargaining are determined by centralized procedures. In turn, Austria is more resilient to bargaining decentralization than other countries; and even if some processes within wage bargaining are shifted to the company level, this shift is highly coordinated.