Austria's transport and services union, Vida, has called for measures to increase women's incomes rather than introducing pension reforms that it argued would disadvantage female workers, as the country marks Equal Pension Day on 9 August.

According to Vida, women in Austria receive pensions that are on average 39.4 per cent lower than those of men, with Equal Pension Day marking the point in the year when men have received the annual pension income that women will receive by the end of the year.

This year’s Equal Pension Day coincides with new pension proposals, including those put forward by Tyrol's Governor, Anton Mattle.

Mattle spoke out in favour of allowing retirement in Austria at the earliest age of 65 and in principle only after 45 years of work, and that those who do not reach this duration should work beyond the age of 65.

Vida Federal Women's chairwoman, Olivia Janisch, warned that proposals to make retirement eligibility increasingly dependent on 45 years of employment are “hard to beat in terms of cynicism and contempt” as it is particularly difficult for women to reach this number of years due to childcare and caring for relatives.

“Women who have raised children, cared for relatives and, at the same time, worked in physically and mentally demanding jobs have worked twice as hard – and are to be penalised for it because it was impossible for them to reach 45 years of employment?” Janisch added.

She suggested that because of this policy, even more women will end up unemployed before retirement or will have to move from sick leave into retirement.

Janisch cautioned that the proposed reform could have far-reaching implications for pension entitlements, particularly if current provisions for early retirement, including the heavy labour and corridor pensions, were to be affected.

Mattle’s proposals were also opposed by Austrian political party the Greens social spokesman, Markus Koza, and Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) general secretary and homeland security spokesman, Michael Schnedlitz.

In response to the proposals, Koza said: "If you want people to work longer, you also have to make sure that companies employ more people over the age of 60, that older unemployed people find jobs and that people are not excluded from the labour market through childcare obligations and care responsibilities.

"What Mattle is calling for – perhaps even without understanding or wanting to – is actually the expropriation of women with childcare obligations, of people who were unemployed and of people who have invested in their education.

“The consequence of his absurd advance is that their contributions to the pension account at the age of 65 would be worth less than the contributions of others.”

Instead, Koza said that Austria needs “a serious debate” about how it can secure the pension system for future generations and that protection measures must sensibly start in people's working phase.

Meanwhile, Schnedlitz called the proposals “socio-political frontal attack on the hard-working population".

“This compulsory pension must be taken off the table. What is needed are secure pensions, the recognition of long contribution periods and a policy that finally cuts back on the bloated government, the system and wrong expenditures – not on the people who built up Austria,” Schnedlitz said.

Janisch also highlighted that workers in the tourism, cleaning and healthcare sectors, who are predominantly women, continue to be underpaid. Therefore, she argued that substantial pay rises are essential in the conclusion of collective agreements.

"Performance-related incomes are a key to decent pensions from which women can actually live on after their working lives," Janisch emphasised.

Another important step towards fairer incomes and pensions, according to Janisch, is the implementation of the EU Pay Transparency Directive.

The EU Pay Transparency Directive is a law that aims to ensure equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between women and men. She stressed the urgent need for the Austrian government to act, as the implementation deadline expired on 7 June 2026.

“Only those who are aware of unjustified pay gaps can take action against them,” Janisch said.

In particular, she urged "employers and their associations to abandon their blockade stance and the federal government to finally deliver".

“This is about the right of high-performing women to the pay they are entitled to. Excuses are a slap in the face for working women,” she said.

Janisch also called for additional working hours by part-time employees to be treated in the same way as overtime.

Almost one in two working women in Austria work part-time and among working mothers with children under 15, the part-time rate is as high as 74 per cent, compared with just 8.6 per cent for fathers.

Part-time work is particularly widespread in female-dominated sectors. More than half of employees in health and social care work part-time, as do almost half of workers in building cleaning, while in tourism, Statistics Austria reports that four in 10 employees work part-time.

“Many women feel compelled to reduce their paid working hours because childcare, caring for relatives and their jobs are otherwise incompatible,” Janisch explained.

For this reason, the Vida has called for additional hours worked to receive the same treatment as overtime. It has argued for the premium for extra hours to be increased from the current 25 per cent to 50 per cent, applied from the first hour worked.

The union has also called for the abolition of the three-month averaging period during which no premium is paid.

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