Active unemployed Austria demand the abolition of the withdrawal barriers as well as restoration of the self-administration of the unemployment insurance
(Vienna, July 5, 2021) “When Labor Minister Martin Kocher starts the old song of the allegedly unwilling to work seekers and in the otherwise relatively factual statement to the 'Zeit im Bild' demands 'more commitment' in the form of stricter implementation of the sanctions regime threatening existence, then should Minister Kocher finally ensure that this sanction regime at least meets the requirements specified in the judgments of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the German Constitutional Court (BVerfG): that total lockdowns are incompatible with basic rights and that a decent existence must be ensured in every case! " Active unemployed Austria chairman Martin Mair the new labor minister to finally respect our constitutional and human rights!
End systematic breach of law at the AMS and bring perpetrators to account!
In our advisory work, we find that every day at the AMS, fundamental constitutional and procedural rights are systematically broken: the insured will stop their insurance benefits and the insured have to prove their innocence if they just give feedback from entrepreneurs or course institutes! Although the Administrative Court has lifted withdrawal bans several times because the AMS did not conduct any formal interrogations of the accused and thus generally prejudices job seekers, the AMS employees continue to systematically disregard fundamental procedural principles.
Even repeated and gross violations of the law do not result in AMS employees being suspended from their salaries or being held responsible in any form under employment law. Even more, entrepreneurs are not held responsible for making false statements about job seekers to the AMS. And the victims of the AMS bureaucracy certainly do not receive any compensation or at least an apology from the AMS.
Every day, numerous victims of legal violations by AMS employees seek support from “Active Unemployed Austria” or from legal aid institutions. In our experience, around 90% of the ban on people seeking advice are illegal. These are mostly lifted by the AMS itself after the persons concerned have been informed or only months later by the Federal Administrative Court.
No change to our unemployment insurance without the full participation of the unemployment unions!
Minister Martin Kocher has apparently not yet been informed that, in accordance with ILO Convention 122 (BGBl 355/1974) and ILO Recommendation 202, those affected are to be included in the planning, implementation and evaluation of social and employment policy. During the 5th state examination of Austria on the implementation of the “UN Social Pact” (WSK Pact), the UN criticized the sanctions regime as a violation of the human right to freely chosen work and called for regular discussions with representatives of the long-term unemployed!
The unemployment union “Active Unemployed Austria” would therefore be happy if the Minister of Labor, Martin Kocher, who comes from science, would ensure that the AMS finally complies with applicable laws and human rights conventions.
Hands off OUR unemployment insurance!
After all, as insured persons and taxpayers, we all paid for the AMS and its coercive measures with the whip of sanctions ourselves. Unemployment insurance is not there to artificially protect companies that are not in a position to manage human resources in line with the times and democracy or that produce past the market, through the whip or even at the expense of the insurance community through unpaid work in the form of illegal work training and other gifts To sustain life. Instead of wasting our money on an inflated bureaucracy and on the structural violence of the sanctions based course sectors ("unemployment industry"), an increase in unemployment benefits, the reintroduction of value protection as well as the free choice of AMS courses would be the order of the day. In a democracy that should go without saying!
Active unemployed Austria therefore demand:
- Finally include social human rights in the constitution, in particular the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Article 14), the Social Charter of the Council of Europe (Article 1) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 6) (including the additional protocol for individual complaints at the UN) )!
- Implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Justice and the Federal Constitutional Court: Ensure a decent existence - no sanctions below the risk of poverty threshold (previously: total reduction and no more entitlement to minimum income / social assistance!), No sanctions before the conclusion of a fair trial and immediate lifting of the withdrawal barriers if there is actually illegal behavior is terminated.
- Restore real self-administration ("workers controll") of unemployment insurance in accordance with the resolutions of the 2nd and 3rd trade union congresses: Self-organization of unemployment insurance by the unions and affected self-organizations. Companies should only have advisory votes. The state sets minimum standards of the rights of the insured.
- Equal rights for everyone: equally harsh sanctions for AMS employees and discriminating companies as well as for job seekers instead of gifts to companies at the expense of workers!
- Free choice of lawyer for legal aid and longer deadlines for legal remedies (uniformly 6 months), which starts in the first stage at the AMS. Payment of the procedural lawyers in the form of an advisory check!