In Austria’s security industry, which employs around 18,000 people at peak times, the first round of collective bargaining negotiations for 2026 ended without an agreement. The offer from employers was deemed insufficient by employee representatives from the vida union. Employers had proposed a 1.7 percent wage increase and two one-time payments of €125 each. The union described the offer as a “mockery” and is demanding full compensation for the past year’s inflation.
“We will not accept wage cuts and demand full compensation for the rolling inflation from October 2024 to September 2025—amounting to three percent—to maintain purchasing power, as well as improvements in working conditions,” said vida’s chief negotiator, Gernot Kopp. He criticized one-time payments as unsustainable.
Currently €2,100 Gross Starting Salary
“To sell these two one-time payments as a ‘purchasing power bonus’ is an insult to employees,” Kopp said Friday in a statement. He calculated that the starting salary for security guards is just over €2,100 gross per month, with a net income barely above the poverty risk threshold of €1,661 per month.
Negotiations will resume on November 11. Just yesterday, an agreement was reached in the brewing industry, where minimum and actual collective wages and salaries will rise by 2.55 percent.
High Share Of Migrant Workers, 40 Percent Women
The vida union pointed to upcoming major events, such as the Eurovision Song Contest in May 2026, as examples of the importance of security services. The profession, it added, is not a male domain: women make up 40 percent of the workforce, and the share of migrants is particularly high. More than one-third of Vienna’s security employees, according to vida, do not hold Austrian citizenship.
The union has long demanded the introduction of certified training and the abolition of solo shifts. It has also criticized “systemic problems” such as incorrect calculations of overtime and bonus pay. The sector is dominated by major companies including G4S, Securitas, Siwacht, and ÖWD, which together account for more than half of the market.
At the advisory centers of the Chamber of Labor (AK) and vida, the use of subcontractors is a frequent issue. “In some cases, it is almost impossible to determine which company affected employees actually work for. These arrangements make it very difficult to enforce wage claims,” said the AK. The Austrian Economic Chamber, in turn, emphasized that security firms “have transformed in recent years into modern security service providers.”
