The IG24 take their case to the court

Senior Landecker Fellow Flavia Iulia Matei leads IG24, a non-partisan association promoting the interests of live-in caregivers in Austria.

The organization is demanding more support for self-employed caregivers in the country. According to IG24, under the current conditions, they have no labor protection and are not entitled to any breaks, paid sick leave, or vacation. Despite their hard and important work, they are being paid between two to three euros per hour. “Our voices have so far remained unheard,” the caregivers claim.

Following their colleagues in Germany and Switzerland, to change the current situation, IG24 is taking their case to the courts. The organization is hoping to prove that the live-in care is based on a false self-employment and will demand regular employment for all live-in care workers in Austria. Hopefully, the verdict in court will lead to the political change that is needed in order to ensure labor protection.

To finance the process, a crowdfunding campaign was recently launched via the Respekt platform. Anyone can support the campaign directly online by the end of August, 2022.

More information are available on IG24’s website as well as the Respekt crowdfunding platform.

Flavia is one of thirty 2020-2021 Landecker Democracy Fellows. This fellowship, a collaboration between the Alfred Landecker Foundation and Humanity in Action, was created to strengthen a new generation of leaders whose approaches to political and social challenges can become catalysts for democratic placemaking and community building. Read more about the fellowship here.