On the 5th of February, the TROIKA group was invited to the historic building of the Austrian chamber of labour to learn about the principles of social partnership, a system that is quite unique in the entire world. To give the students a good and balanced overview of the whole model, a representative of the chamber of commerce also presented his institution. First, his counterpart of the chamber of labour started the presentation by giving a short overview of the historic development of both chambers and the social partnership model as a whole. He explained how the chamber of labour represents the interests of employees through services such as legal consultation, consumer information, educational services and cultural programs. Afterwards, the representative of the chamber of commerce explained the services his institution offers to all entrepreneurs in Upper Austria, which include a representation of business interests such ad tax or bureaucracy reliefs or good infrastructure networks and also consultation and educational possibilities. After both presentations, the international students had the possibility to engage in a debate about political trends, the legitimacy of the compulsory membership and the future of these organizations. Afterwards, a consumer protection specialist from the chamber of labour and a work council office manager from the voestalpine gave additional interesting insights to their point of view on the social partnership model. Finally, the students were invited to lunch by the chamber of labour and had the ability to discuss their impressions of this unique system over a traditional Schnitzel or other delights. In the end, most students were very impressed about the variety of services provided to employees as well as employers through the social partnership in Austria. The student group was accompanied by Mag. Andreas Krawinkler from the Institute of Innovation Management. (Photo credit: IFI)
