Seco must mediate in labor dispute at SDA news agency
After the first three rounds of negotiations on job cuts at the SDA news agency, the positions of the delegation of the Board of Directors and the staff representatives are at odds. The parties have appealed to the Seco conciliation body.
The decision was made in agreement with the staff representatives, the editorial commission, as the delegation of the board of directors announced on Friday. In the negotiations so far, the delegation offered those affected by the terminations or change notices to pay the previous salary one month beyond the notice period.
There was agreement on the establishment of a fund for hardship cases. The negotiating parties also agree that sda is committed to the public service. In this regard, both parties would like the federal government to assume the costs for multilingualism.
However, there is disagreement on the scope of the job cuts and the social plan. While the Board of Directors is sticking to the existing scope of both, the Editorial Committee is calling for a reduction in the number of redundancies. The social plan for employees over 60 who have been made redundant is also to be significantly improved.
A further round of negotiations has been agreed on Monday. The issue of dismissed employees over the age of 60 is to be discussed again. Despite partial agreements, there are reportedly still differences on this point, which make a rapid agreement impossible.
With the Friday afternoon call of the conciliation body at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) the resumption of the suspended strike at sda is prohibited. There is a duty to maintain industrial peace for the duration of the conciliation proceedings. (SDA)
