For civil servants and public sector employees, an agreement on a three-year deal for salary valorization had already been reached between the government and the GÖD (Union of Public Services) some time ago. Following renegotiations in October 2025, their salaries will not be increased until July 1, 2026, when they will rise by 3.3%, which equates to an average increase of 1.65% over the course of 2026. In the following two years, there will be a socially graded agreement, which will amount to a zero wage increase for higher salaries.

However, most WU employees are not affected by this, as they are not public servants. They fall under the scope of the University Collective Bargaining Agreement (Uni-KV). The valorization of Uni-KV salaries is negotiated each year between the National University Federation (Dachverband) and the GÖD. Martin Tiefenthaler, chairman of Federal Executive Board 13, which is responsible for academic university staff in the GÖD, reported on these negotiations and their starting position on December 5, 2025, at a nationwide staff assembly, which we also joined via a local WU staff assembly. We also devote a separate article to the difficult starting position of this year's collective bargaining negotiations in this BR Info.

An agreement has now been reached on the adjustment of the salaries in the Uni-KV for 2026. Even given the difficult starting position, the results are extremely sobering. For the first time, a two-year agreement has been reached for the Uni-KV. For 2026, salaries will increase by 1.65% (at least EUR 60). For the year 2027, salaries will increase by a further 1.3% (at least EUR 60). However, the increase of at least EUR 60 in each case refers to the full-time salary specified in the Uni-KV and not to a part-time salary derived from it. As a result, the increase may be less than EUR 60 for those working fewer hours.

These adjustments will take effect from January 1 for the first time since 2017. In recent years, Uni-KV valorizations have only applied from February 1. In this respect, a small improvement has been achieved for employees.

There is also a change in the Uni-KV that is intended to lead to an increase in the number of permanent positions for third-party-funded project positions. To this end, the Uni-KV will be supplemented by a temporary special right of termination for permanent project-financed positions, which can be exercised at the end of each calendar month (i.e., twelve times a year) if funding is discontinued or reduced. The declared aim is that these extended termination options will encourage universities to convert more third-party-funded project positions into permanent positions.

How should this result be interpreted?

Negotiations for the Uni-KV are usually based on the average monthly inflation from October of the previous year to September of the current year. For the 2026 agreement, this figure was 3.05% (October 2024 – September 2025). The 1.65% now agreed is therefore significantly below the relevant inflation rate. Current forecasts by the IHS and WIFO predict inflation of 3.5% for 2025 and 2.4 to 2.6% for 2026. In November 2025, inflation was as high as 4.1%. The 1.3% salary increase for 2027 is therefore also expected to result in a significant real wage loss for employees at Austrian universities.

Furthermore, the basis for valorizations in subsequent years merely corresponds to the 1.65% (or later 1.3%) salary increase. This contrasts with the public sector, where salaries will be increased by 3.3% for the second half of 2026, but this will create a much higher basis for valorizations in subsequent years. The 3.3% increase (instead of just 1.65% for KV employees) will then have a staggered effect, which will make a difference of approximately 1.6% more for 2027 alone. This disadvantage will remain for KV employees in all subsequent years.

In addition, it should be noted that this negotiation result is the lowest collective bargaining agreement settlement of all sectors concluded to date in the ongoing autumn wage round.

University employees and their interest groups can therefore not be satisfied with this result. This agreement will also worsen the competitiveness of universities on the labour market. In view of ongoing efforts in employer branding (e.g., the recently introduced sixth week of vacation), this is also not advantageous for WU as an employer.

Since WU is in a particularly strong financial position compared to other universities and has built up substantial reserves in recent years, the question arises as to whether location-specific measures to support employees could be taken to at least partially compensate for this low valorization. The Academic Staff Council has already initiated discussions with the rectorate on this matter.

At the aforementioned local WU staff assembly, it was decided as a further activity to send a critical statement to the GÖD negotiators on behalf of the WU staff assembly. This was prepared by the Academic Staff Council, has since been sent, and can be read (in German) here.

If you have any questions or feedback on this topic, please contact the Academic Staff Council at wiss.betriebsrat@wu.ac.at.

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^18.12.2025