Austria: Social partners make proposals to coalition negotiators

Following the general election in October 2006 (Austria: Election result), the largest party, the social democratic party (SPÖ), has been in negotiations on forming a "grand coalition" government with the conservative Austrian People's party (ÖVP), with the aim of reaching an agreement during January. In early December 2006, the four main social partner organisations - on the employers' side, the federal economic and agriculture chambers, and on the employees' side, the Austrian Trade Union Confederation (ÖGB) and the federal labour chamber - presented their joint proposals to the SPÖ-ÖVP negotiation team.