There is currently a lot of excitement in many plumbing companies. The reason is a legal resolution from July that includes plumbers in the Construction Workers’ Vacation and Severance Pay Act (BUAG).
140 companies, as IG Spengler, are vigorously defending themselves against the idea that roofing with metal should be considered an activity subject to BUAG, because this creates short-term additional costs that are sometimes “threatening to existential health” – and this is still happening this year. Without “immediate restructuring” you will go to the Constitutional Court.
Plumbers do not feel represented by the WKÖ
The changes to the BUAG and also the Construction Workers’ Bad Weather Compensation Act (BScheG) were decided by the ÖVP, Greens and SPÖ after an industry solution negotiated by the social partners.
Behind closed doors, critics are accusing the ÖVP of saying that the People’s Party may not have looked at the amendment closely enough, otherwise they would not have voted for it. For plumbing companies, with the exception of ventilation and plumbing companies, the regulations on vacation, severance pay and bridging allowances of the Construction Workers’ Holiday and Severance Pay Act now apply – and in some cases retroactively. The mixed operation regulations apply to plumbing companies that also carry out ventilation and plumbing work.
IG Spengler’s criticism particularly affects the Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ) – they don’t feel represented by them. Through a request from the IG to the constitutional lawyer Daniel Ennöckl The IG sees its criticism confirmed by the commissioned legal opinion that is available to the APA.
“Regulations unconstitutional”
The IG Spengler sees a violation of the protection of trust and wants to take action at the Constitutional Court via an individual application. “The transitional regulations that have been adopted mean that we as companies are confronted with considerable additional demands for times before the amendment comes into force on August 1, 2024, for which we were unable to build up reserves – since the regulation applies retroactively in parts,” criticizes IG -Spengler co-initiator Paul Haberhauer from the Haberhauer Dachzentrum company to the APA.
The spokesman for the IG, Alois Perwein from the GmbH of the same name is harshly criticizing the representatives of his guild in the Chamber of Commerce: “The federal guild of roofers, glaziers and plumbers boasts of having worked out an industry solution with the BUAK board and fails to mention that the regulations are unconstitutional. ” Since there are also certain changes to existing employment relationships, there is “the potential to drive companies into financial ruin”.
Among other points, this involves a claim for additional pay from previous periods of service and a sixth week of vacation after 20 instead of 25 years. This has recently resulted in payment obligations into the BUAK system – this year.
“The additional bureaucratic effort and additional costs hit us in a phase of economic stagnation,” complains Perwein, an “additional brake block” that is being placed on the guild. The opposite of the constantly promised reduction in bureaucracy is happening in reality.
The amendment to the law was preceded by a decision by the Administrative Court (VwGH), according to which roof coverings with metal are considered activities subject to BUAG. Ultimately, the Administrative Court determined that in order to clarify the applicability of the BUAG for certain work, it must first be checked whether this work falls under the BUAG obligation. In a mixed operation without organizational separation, the decisive factor is whether an employee predominantly carries out such work.
Constitutional lawyer Ennöckl concludes that the Administrative Court did not declare that all activities of plumbing companies would necessarily fall within the scope of application of the BUAG. “In fact, this is only the case for those activities that, according to the trade regulations, can also be carried out by roofing companies.” Plumbing businesses should be viewed as “classic” mixed businesses.
The actual number of plumbing companies in Austria is difficult to determine. Although there are 2,133 valid business licenses, not all of them are actually active anymore and there are also many one-person businesses among them. There are 1,189 active email addresses – this became known through the mobilization of IG Spengler, they told the APA. In the entire specialist group of roofers, glaziers and plumbers, there are currently 16,300 employees (excluding part-time employees); according to the IG, around half are employees in plumbing businesses. The 140 IG member companies have an average of 20 to 25 employees, i.e. around 3,000.