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Austria The Austrian Trade Union Federation
Although union membership is not compulsory, about threefifths of employed persons belong to one of the fifteen major
labor unions. These fifteen unions constitute the Austrian Trade
Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund--ÖGB). The
total membership was more than 1.6 million persons at the end of
1991.
The fifteen unions making up the federation represent four
major groups: nine of the unions represent skilled and unskilled
workers organized by industry, including farm and forestry
workers; four of the unions represent public employees, including
transport and communications workers; one of the unions serves
the arts and professions; and the last union, the second largest
in membership, represents private white-collar salaried
employees. Because the latter is the only union not organized on
industry lines, all wage earners in an enterprise ordinarily
belong to the same union. The smallest union, the Union of Arts,
Journalism, and Professions, had 16,310 registered members in
1989. In the same year, the largest union, the Union of
Commercial, Clerical, and Technical Employees, had 340,348
registered members.
Data as of December 1993
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