Covid in Austria: No Jab, No Job, Brought to You by Big Labour

Expect no help from the unions, politicians, or employee associations controlled by either of the former. The only answer is--contempt.

I’m a bit short on time, so this brief ‘news’ item from Austro-Covidian’s tabloid Heute will have to do for today. Sigh.

No Jab, No Job, Supported by the Austrian Chamber of Labour

No-one is forcing anyone, legally speaking, but employers seem to be asking about applicant’s injection status: ‘A 39 year-old woman from Vienna couldn’t get vaccinated due to an autoimmune condition, and that’s why she can’t find a job now’, Heute reports (my emphases):

‘It pulled the rug out from under me for a moment. My application failed due to a rule arbitrarily set by a company’, she continues, annoyed. It remains unclear what will happen next. In any case, Andrea K. does not want to give up hope; after all, she is not looking for a job in the healthcare sector [where injection obligations continue, despite all evidence]. The general 3G rule [proof of injection, infection, or recovery] at work had been lifted as of 5 March 2022.

The most infuriating aspect, to me at least, is the subsequent paragraph:

Austrian Chamber of Labour lawyer Philipp Brokes explains the legal facts in an interview with Heute: ‘Legally, it is permissible to ask for a vaccination at the job interview. The argumentation ranges from the general duty of care to personal reasons.’ However, in the case of a valid employment relationship, an employer may not require his employees to be vaccinated.

So, if you’ve got a job, it’s illegal to ask about vaccination; but if you’re applying for one, it’s o.k.? So, who is this lawyer, anyways?

Here’s a somewhat current C.V., which indicates his date of birth in 1987, he’s an avid Covid Hawk (just check out his Twitter account, if you dare), in particular the below brain fart:

Translation: ‘as of Monday [22 Nov. 2021], I was in more lockdowns than relationships.’ Why don’t you shed a crocodile tear for the pathetic Mr. Brokes.

Note that this lawyer doesn’t cite any legal or statutory grounds to anyone; he is stating what he calls ‘legal facts’. Mr. Brokes is also on the record in favour of ‘terminations due to violations against the injection mandate’, as another news item from mid-December 2021 informs us about. Here, we note two things: first, at that particular point in time, the injection mandate was not even in force (but Mr. Brokes already worked for the Chamber of Labour back then); and, second, that no-one ‘in journalism’ asks about these ‘legal facts’.

We get what we deserve.

Background to this absurdity of a brain fart may be obtained in a posting from about a year ago:

House Arrest for ‘the Unvaccinated’

Bottom Lines

One does wonder who the Austrian Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer) actually works for.

Hint: it’s not the working class or ordinary employees. It’s an affiliate

The Chamber of Labour is about as much in favour of, well, labour as, e.g., the American Enterprise Institute is in favour of free market capitalism.

Like the Austrian Medical Association (officially: the Doctors’ Chamber, or Ärztekammer), these institutions are technically ‘private’, but they work hand-in-glove with government. Hence, it’s more than ‘fair’ to point to the ensuing collusion between the two, esp. rampant once (if) responsibility must be shoved around (which typically involves lots of finger-pointing of the ‘it’s not my responsibility to take care of this matter’ garden variety). Like with all matters Covid.

Question is: will it be possible to build a different and perhaps even ‘better’ institution? To me, it seems obvious that institutions such as mainstream political parties, their affiliates like the Chambers or even trade unions cannot be ‘reformed’.

Note, in passing, that, e.g., unions are inherently biased against independent forms of workplace organisation, ranging from worker-owned cooperatives to small and medium-sized businesses, mainly because if most people of working age would be self-employed and/or cooperatively owning the workplace, what’s the need for (big) unions?

I suppose they should therefore be abolished and replaced.

Maybe something better will take their place.

I just hope that the 39 year-old Andrea K. will find a job that values her; the ones she was considered for obviously don’t. Shame on them.