Fixed-term contracts have become the norm for the scientific staff at Austrian universities during the past decades. Until the latest amendment to the Universities Act in 2021 („UG Novelle 2021“) legal restrictions on the maximum duration of employment on subsequent fixed-term contracts could be circumvented by e.g. changing to another institution for a certain period of time. However, the reformed legislation now prohibits the employment of researchers and lecturers on non-permament contracts after a total duration of 8 years, regardless of interruptions. While this change was intended to push universities to offer more permanent contracts, the current practice forces qualified personnel more than ever to leave Austria or science all together.
NUWiss („Netzwerk Unterbau Wissenschaft“) is an independent network of university staff founded in 2022 out of a protest movement against the amendment of the University Act. Our aim is to promote organizing among university staff in order to push responsible stakeholders to not only take back the recent changes in the Austrian legislation, but to provide permanent contracts for a wider range of career paths than only the one leading to professorship. For this reason, NUWiss invites you to join an online information meeting on March 17th, 4 pm.Â
We would like to familiarize all non-German speaking colleagues with the current legal situation in Austria. While we cannot offer immediate legal support, we want to raise awareness among the scientific staff about the potential implications of the changed legislation. We will give information about the official institutions already in place to represent employees‘ interests at Austrian universities („Arbeiterkammer“, „Betriebsrat“). We will also introduce local university initiatives taking action against precarious employment. Last but not least, another goal of the meeting is to learn about the perspective of the international researcher community on the present situation in Austria and include them into the ongoing organizing process.Â
The Meeting will be held via Zoom. Please log in with your name and your university affiliation!
Zoom Link
Meeting-ID: 662 4611 7942
Kenncode: 213341
Please send us an e-mail if you have troubles signing in.
Let’s act together and organize for fair employment at Austrian universities!
will you organise another of these meetings? or did you record the one you had? many thanks
Hi Sarah,
We have nnot recorded the meeting, but I can send you the slides that we had prepared. We are planning to do another meeeting in English at the end of the semester. If you sign up to our newsletter you will receive the invitation once we have finalised the date.
In the meanwhile you can also come to our inaugural event on April 22nd in Vienna. It will be mostly in German but we will provide translations and the more interactive part in the afternoon will be in English and German. More information on the Inaugural Event here: https://www.nuwiss.at/en/exzellent-prekaer-diese-uni-wollen-wir-nicht-mehr-nuwiss-inaugural-meeting-on-22-april/
(the final program should be up tomorrow)