FOREIGN WORKERS
1947
Works Councils Act: voting rights for foreign nationals in works council and employee representative elections.
1949
Unemployment Insurance Act: introduction of mandatory employee insurance; unemployment benefits for all insured persons, emergency unemployment assistance for Austrian nationals only.
1970
General collective bargaining agreement: Foreign employees can be recognised as spokespersons for the workforce by works councils and employers.
1974
1947 Works Councils Act replaced by the Labour Relations Act.
2000
EU directive against discrimination on grounds of racial or ethnic origin in employment. In 2001 the EU Commission started infringement proceedings against Austria because aliens were not entitled to stand for election in works council and employee representative elections. In 2002 the UN Human Rights Committee found against Austria in a case involving such voting rights.
2003
Amendment to the Aliens Police Act: 90 percent of third-country nationals resident in Austria exempted from the requirements of the Aliens Employment Act.
2006
For the first time, third-country nationals enjoyed voting rights in works council and employee representative elections.