of the ‘European Telework Week 1997'. To date the position in the political domain is that present
national labour law and national law for homework provided sufficient security for teleworkers.
Two Austrian ministers recently signed ‘The European Charter for Telework’. In the same context
the Union of employees in the public sector (GÖD) actively participates in the elaboration of pan-
European guidelines as well as the City of Vienna's Directorate of the department for IT
management. Telecentres in several provinces (Carinthia, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Vienna)
emerged in the context of European projects and are supported by regional governments.
Significantly, in the private sector the IT industry figures as a forerunner of employer-led telework
schemes.
Telework has been the subject of a comprehensive report by the white-collar trade union GPA
which resulted in proposals for model contracts and guidelines. These guidelines reject mere tele-
homework and favour alternating tele-homework, demand a variety of tasks against monotony in
telework, underline voluntariness and the right of return to central office, access to in-company
training, and a link between telework schemes and development programmes for women.
Flexibility in work should neither lead to working hours beyond legal regulations and reasonable
limits, nor should telework be used as a push towards involuntary freelance work. Further items
deal with a prohibition of electronic supervision, salaries, reimbursement, adaptation of offices,
access to home-offices for OHS-checks, contact with the union and communication with the
headquarters.
35
Representatives of the GPA successfully negotiated the first national collective
agreement containing aspects of telework with the Austrian oil industry.
The event of ‘Telework 96, the 3rd European Assembly on Telework and New Ways of Working’
in Vienna 1996 can serve as one example for the activities of local contractors in EU-funded
projects as well as a recent workshop on ‘Public Administrations and Telework’
36
in the
framework of the annual conference ‘Global Village’.
The first pilot in a domestic public administration started in 1994 at a regional level. Four
employees of the Statistical Services in the Government of Upper Austria carried out alternating
telework within a pilot limited to a duration of nine months. Despite an overall positive evaluation
the practitioners also recorded some negative experiences, including technical problems with
software connecting to the department's intranet, uncertainty over legal conditions, employees'
perception of unsatisfactory office equipment, of isolation at work, of intensified workload and
problems with the organisation for transporting documents between the headquarters and the
home-offices.
37
After a short break the pilot was resumed, and nowadays additionally is combined
with the facilities as provided by a local telecentre. The trial has expanded to 20 participants and
includes on-line work with advanced software such as Computer Aided Design (CAD).
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