All information about the AK election

Many people know the AK as a service organisation: a place to turn to if you have a problem at work. Although the AK offers advice on labour law issues, it is also much more than that. The AK is the democratically elected representative of all employees in Austria. The political direction of the AK is decided in the AK General Assembly. This is why the AK General Assembly is often referred to as the parliament of employees. This is exactly where we as LINKS want to go and shake things up!

The 2024 general election will take place from 10 to 23 April. If you work in a larger company, you will probably be able to cast your vote in person on one or more days during this period. For more detailed information, it is best to ask your works council. If you work in a smaller company, do not have a works council or there is no election in your company for other reasons, you will automatically be sent a letter with a polling card.

If an election is taking place at your company, you can also apply for a postal voting card yourself if you are unable to vote on election day for whatever reason. You can get more information about this from the AK election office.

If you vote by polling card, your polling card can arrive as early as April 2nd.

You can also vote in the AK election if you are not an Austrian citizen. You just have to have been a member of the AK on the cut-off date, 3 January 2024.

LINKS is only running in Vienna. You must therefore be a member of the Vienna Chamber of Labour in order to vote for LINKS. Members of the Vienna Chamber of Labour are employees who work in Vienna and unemployed people who live in Vienna.

If you receive the AK Vienna magazine every month, you are a member of AK Vienna.

However, you may not receive the magazine and still be an AK member (perhaps because the AK does not know your current address or you were mean to your postman or -woman). In this case, it is worth reading this page to the end.

AK members are basically all employees. That means blue-collar workers, white-collar workers and co.

This explicitly includes:

• Unemployed, if
  • they have left an employment relationship subject to unemployment insurance in the last 52 weeks in which they were employed for more than 20 weeks OR
  • for various reasons still receive money from unemployment insurance after 52 weeks
• Public servants, both civil servants and contract staff
• Employees of all public corporations
• Presidents and executives of interest groups, if the professional group represented belongs to the AK
• Employees of cooperatives in agriculture and forestry with 5 or more employees in sawmills, resin processing plants, mills and dairies
• Home workers
• Freelance employees (also marginal)

However, AK members are not:

• Direct employees at federal, state and municipal level working in
  • the judiciary and the executive
  • Teaching and educational institutions
  • Archives
  • Libraries
  • Museums
  • scientific institutions
• Employees in agricultural and forestry operations
• Managing directors and board members in corporations (GmbH or AG)
• Senior executives with influence on the management of the company
• Doctors
• Trainee lawyers
• Patent attorney trainees
• Notary candidates
• Trainee chartered accountants
• Pharmaceutical specialists in pharmacies
• Religious pastors and members of religious orders without compulsory health insurance (except Protestants)

If you are still not sure whether you are a member of the Vienna Chamber of Labour, you can also simply call the AK and ask: +43 1 501 65 0.

The AK General Assembly, the so-called parliament of employees, is elected in the AK elections. We want to campaign for a better life for all in the AK General Assembly. We want the AK to better represent the interests of all employees, including those in the most precarious working and living conditions. We want to push the AK towards a combative course, strengthen the AK from within and do our part to fend off attacks on the AK.

Non-Austrian citizens can also vote in the AK elections. We take the AK election seriously – if only because many people who are not allowed to vote in other elections are taken seriously in the AK election. Since our foundation, we have demanded the right to vote for everyone who lives here. The AK election is the most important election in Austria in which this demand is at least partially realised.

In the 2024 National Council elections, over 33% of Viennese will not be allowed to vote because they are not Austrian citizens.

By voting for LINKS in the AK elections, you enable us to use the AK General Assembly as a mouthpiece for anti-racist, queer-feminist, climate-just and anti-capitalist politics.

Since the Vienna elections in 2020, many different people at LINKS have been engaged in continuous voluntary work in campaigning and social politics in grassroots campaigning and social politics. We campaign against all forms of discrimination and consistently stand up for climate and distributive justice. We make our voices heard for these issues – with creative activism, at demonstrations and in district parliaments. We revitalise our neighbourhoods, distribute free meals and offer advice on social benefits in public spaces. We support movements; for example, the protest camp in Lobau against the “Stadtstraße” in 2021 or the trade union movement during the annual wage negotiations.

LINKS does not stand for business as usual. Our policies provide answers to major crises, such as the climate crisis, the democratic deficit in Vienna and the excessively high cost of living. Our answers are more radical than those of other parties, but the reality is also radical. In a city where many people spend half their income on rent, an unemployment benefit of 55% of net salary is radically unfair.

This system must change fundamentally – for you, for others, for everyone. This is possible and necessary. That is what we are committed to.

A vote for the LEFT is never a lost vote, especially not in the labour elections.

There is no percentage hurdle in the AK elections – whoever receives enough votes for a mandate is elected. The SPÖ-affiliated FSG group currently holds almost two thirds of the seats in the AK General Assembly. This is not expected to change in 2024.

We do not believe in high and non-transparent subsidies for parties and other campaigning groups. When we enter the AK General Assembly, we will publicise how much money we receive and use the funding transparently for social purposes.