For The Many - The Vienna Chamber of Labour

The reception area of Vienna's Chamber of Labour is light and modern and bustling with activity. In front of the counters are men and women who seek advice in conflicts with their employers. Friendly, competent staff guide them to the place where they can get the best help. This is neither a charitable organisation nor a union. Rather, those seeking advice have are entitled to legal support by Austrian law because every employee in Austria is automatically a member of the Chamber of Labour. Most employees pay a small percentage of their salary to fund the institution - but apprentices, people in low-paid part time jobs or on sick leave and other particularly vulnerable groups get the full support package for free. What's more: In 2008, the Chamber of Labour became an integral part of Austria's constitutional law, making this unique Austrian institution even more unique, and an outstanding achievement of the modern Western European welfare state. A glittering red fist placed near the entrace to the Vienna Chamber of Labour branch serves as a reminder of the fact that it was the Labour movement which successfully fought for this institution. Its legal mandate is to "represent and promote the social, economic, professional and cultural interests of workers" - irrespective of race, country of origin, and wage level. The busy atmosphere is testimony to the need for such comprehensive representation of workers' interests in the post-migrant and pandemic digital age. Many people seeking advice are facing an existential crisis. Some have gone unpaid for their work for months, others face severe pressure by their bosses, find themselves threatened with unfair dismissal or suffer from harmful working conditions or discrimination. The wide range of counselling services also serve as one basis for analysis and scientific research. Studies rooted very much in the realities of the workplace form the basis for the Chambers of Labour's findings about modern working conditions. On that basis, it lends expertise to legislators and fights to improve the legal framework for workers' rights. Making society fairer is the big goal. To this end, AK representatives speak up about deep injustices in the distribution of wealth still present in Austria and Europe and the world at larger. Another issue is that women still fill the lowest paid positions available on the labour market . When the campaign for the 100th anniversary of the Chamber of Labour in 2020 collides with the outbreak of the COVID-19-pandemic, the organisation switches into crisis mode. In the process, a whole new set of challenges for the world of labour emerge. PRESS REVIEWS: Fascinating portrait of an institution that is becoming increasingly important in a society divided by growing inequality. Kira Taszman, filmdienst.de In FOR THE MANY, Wulff shows that you don't have to go out on the street to depict social injustice. You have to go to the counters of this institution. People who speak little or very bad German stand there. Many unskilled, many women, many elderly, people with disabilities. Those who are the weakest links in a capitalist labour system. And they are exploited by those who can afford it. Carolin Ströbele, zeit.de A sensitively directed portrait of the heroes of labour. Wiener Zeitung