From Vienna to Zurich: A Summer of Labor Discontent as Part-Time Workers, Transit Staff and Hospital Employees Demand Change

Every year, the roughly 1.4 million part-time workers in Austria clock an estimated 7.2 million unpaid overtime hours. Women make up more than three-quarters of that workforce. On July 8, the Austrian Chamber of Labour (AK) handed a petition titled “Mehr Respekt für Teilzeit” to politicians, backed by 36,200 signatures. It demands a legal right to increase weekly hours when overtime becomes regular, and a 50 percent pay premium from the first extra hour worked. “Women do not work less—they are just paid worse,” an ÖGB representative stressed.

Across the border in Switzerland, employees of Zurich’s public transport operator VBZ delivered their own petition—signed by over 1,000 staff—to city councillor Michael Baumer. The VPOD union wants breaks during split shifts capped at 90 minutes and the company to join a pilot project for a 35-hour week. The existing workplace agreement has been terminated; without improvements, new rules might not take effect until late 2027. Zurich city authorities have until the end of August to respond.

Safety concerns also resurfaced at VBZ. A report published July 8 into a collision of two trams in September 2025—which left several people seriously injured—recommends retrofitting older vehicles with driver-attention assistants. The accident was triggered by a driver’s medical issue. VBZ says it is examining the proposals.

Meanwhile, at university hospitals in Baden-Württemberg, staff walked out on July 8. ver.di called warning strikes across Freiburg, Heidelberg, Ulm and Tübingen, affecting around 26,000 employees. The union is demanding a 7.5 percent pay rise (at least €320 per month). Employers countered with a one-off payment of €400 and a staggered increase totalling 4.75 percent. Emergency care remained operational at all sites.

In Wuppertal, discontent is brewing in the municipal swimming pools. Shop stewards on July 8 called for a “personnel offensive,” criticising last-minute staff swaps and excessive overtime. Their demands include speedily filling vacant positions and issuing reliable shift schedules.

At Volkswagen, nationwide protests loomed on July 9 ahead of a supervisory board meeting on deeper cost-cutting plans. IG Metall organised rallies in Wolfsburg, Emden, Zwickau and Hanover; Stuttgart workers planned a car convoy and Ingolstadt a flash mob. No warning strikes were initially scheduled.

The situation in Saarland’s local transit system escalated further. The German Locomotive Drivers’ Union (GDL) called drivers of the Saarbahn on an open-ended strike starting late afternoon July 9. The union wants a separate collective agreement for about 80 drivers, arguing that previous negotiations produced no acceptable outcome.

Retail workers in Bremen and Lower Saxony had already staged warning strikes in early July, with ver.di demanding a 7 percent wage increase. Employers, after several rounds, offered 2.4 percent after six months without any raise.

At Swiss public broadcaster SRF, resistance is mounting against planned job cuts. Six hundred and twelve employees signed a protest letter opposing the dismissal of speech trainers as part of a savings programme implemented in late June. The SSM media union demands the measures be reversed. SRG’s HR department rejected the allegations, pointing to a future mix of internal and external training.

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