Reform of the unemployment insurance law (application to the general assembly of the AK Vienna)

Unemployment insurance is originally an achievement of the workers' movement. Unemployment insurance is supposed to make it possible for workers looking for work to enjoy the human right to freely chosen, full and productive work in a job that appeals to them and in which they can apply and develop their skills and abilities (see ILO Convention 122 on employment policy, published as Federal Law Gazette 1972/355).

The neoliberal activation and forced labor regime with the sanctions regime that violates human rights (permanent threat of deprivation of existence by means of a withdrawal ban) - that with the AlVG amendment 2007 (creation of a poorly paid “2nd labor market”), the repressive minimum income and the abolition of the temporary disability pension in Austria was introduced in its main features step by step, while at the same time there is an increasing lack of wage labor that secures livelihoods, the pressure on employees to accept work on increasingly poorer conditions is increasing.

The continuous deterioration in unemployment insurance is therefore endangering the rights of all workers in the long term!

In order for the unemployment insurance paid by the employees themselves to become a real unemployment insurance again, the AK Wien demands the fastest possible reform of the AlVG, including the affected employees with and without gainful employment and their self-organizations (unemployment initiatives) with the following minimum requirements:

1. Complete deletion of the blocking threats according to §§ 9, 10, 11 and 49, as sanctions threaten the existence and are contrary to human rights. According to more recent scientific studies, sanctions have almost exclusively negative effects and primarily hit those people who are already on the ground due to multiple discrimination. Only voluntary measures can really be successful!
2. Higher net replacement rate: At least 70% plus 13th and 14th special payments
3. The emergency assistance is a "financial right" from a social insurance, therefore the elimination of the crediting of the partner's income
4. Unemployment is exhausting and can make you sick, hence the right to vacation (especially for people with children!), Educational leave, care leave.
5. Salary protection also in the emergency assistance ("Notstandshilfe").
6. Reintroduction of the valorisation of emergency aid for all originally laid down in the AlVG.
7. Secondary employment on the basis of a contract for work and services is to be equated with that of a salaried employee: They are to be calculated in whole months without a daily rate (= daily deduction from unemployment benefit / emergency assistance).
8. Redefinition of the assessment base for multiple jobs.
9. Private companies are not allowed to take on AMS agendas, such as recruitment or the monitoring of “willingness to work” (application behavior).
10. No mediation in a "2. Labor market ”in which regular collective agreements and other employee protection provisions are circumvented
11. Free choice of courses with legal entitlement for all unemployed people - including those who do not withdraw any money from the AMS. Only a free choice of courses ensures that only courses of sufficient quality are offered in the long term.
12. Reinforcement of the implementation of the legal obligation for efficient job placement by the AMS by using and expanding the qualifications already acquired by employees with the aim of the right to freely chosen, full, as productive as possible, enshrined in ILO Convention 122 (published as BGBl 355/1972) Appropriate work in which one's own skills and abilities can be applied.
13. Implementation of equality for older women: commitment to a procedure that eliminates the tendency towards discrimination and dequalification of older workers by the economy instead of additionally stigmatizing the victims of this discrimination by adding alleged "barriers to placement".
14. Establishment of the rights of employees looking for work in the AlVG, in particular

• the right to the greatest possible consideration of placement requests (see § 29 AMSG) when placing jobs through the AMS in order to implement the right to freely chosen work according to ILO 122
• the right to maintain and develop one's own qualifications through AMS measures
• Right to free choice of profession in AMS retraining
• Right to full advice on one's own rights
• Right to humane treatment by the staff of the AMS and its service providers (course providers, ...)

Subsequent requirements:

No harassment - forfeiture of benefit claims - due to missed deadlines for applications: Introduce a grace period for applications according to § 46 AlVG as well as for the extension of emergency assistance instead of forfeiture of benefits! Unemployed people in particular have to struggle with multiple problems and are therefore often in poor health.

This application was included in a slightly modified form by the AUGE / UG in its program of demands and introduced to the general assembly of the AK Vienna (= Federal Chamber of Labor) in the 2015 spring session! The application was referred to the competent committee for labor market policy for further processing. We dont know any results ...

Abbrevations:

AlVG = Arbeitslosenversicherungsgesetz / Unemployment Insurenc Law

AMS = Arbeitsmarktservice / Labour Market Agency

AMSG = Arbeitsmarktservicegesetz / Labour Market Agency Law