Initiative

"Pop Up GeM"; "job.plan - women economy future"; "Full wage instead of things by halves-Let's close the gap!"; "To set a good example"

Summary of the initiative

Founded in 1945, the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) is the only Austrian organisation representing the interests of workers based on voluntary membership.

The following gender-specific initiatives have been taken by the ÖGB:

“Pop Up GeM (Policy and Public Services Push Gender Mainstreaming)” is a platform for political organisations, gender mainstreaming experts and corporations working as active operative partners "side by side" with the aim of understanding the complex reasons for gender segregation in the labour market, developing tools to create equal opportunities and implement these tools in a sustainable way. It has been used to develop a basic concept for Gender Mainstreaming within the trade union framework. The platform aims to reduce gender-specific discrimination by implementing equality orientation in structures of the labour market.

 “job.plan - women economy future” aims at closing the gender pay gap and implementing measures for equal treatment between men and women. A survey carried out by the Chamber of Labour Vorarlberg showed the wage structure and is the basis for further measures tackling the gender pay gap. Those measures could include research, coaching and mentoring for women, girls and couples, qualifications of disseminators and awareness-raising among the respective target groups.

 “Full wage instead of things by halves – Let’s close the gap!” is a campaign led by the Austrian Trade Union. It has raised awareness to the enormous pay gap between men and women and created a requirement catalogue to eliminate the pay-gap.

“To set a good example” is a project-guidebook with the title “To set a good example” published by the “Metal-Textile” Trade Union. The book deals with gender mainstreaming in collective agreements. The main purpose of the book is awareness-raising and through that the prevention of indirect discrimination in collective agreements.