Hotels press for seasonal worker rules as union urges better conditions
Wednesday 28th October 2026 on 07:30 in
Austria
Austria’s labour ministry expects to issue within days a decree setting how many seasonal workers from outside the EU Vorarlberg tourism businesses may employ this winter, but hoteliers say the wait is creating uncertainty, ORF reports.
Heike Ladurner-Strolz, chairwoman of Vorarlberg’s hotel industry and head of Hotel Zimba, said the decision was already overdue. Businesses and prospective workers need time to plan, including for visa procedures, she said. She also accused the union of taking an anti-tourism stance.
Reinhard Stemmer, the regional chair of the vida union, rejected the accusation. He said employers should improve pay, working hours, work-life balance and respect for staff, rather than relying on seasonal worker quotas to address staffing shortages.
Stemmer said 1,145 people in Vorarlberg were looking for work in hotel, restaurant and kitchen occupations at the end of September. Employers should consider why people avoid the industry or leave it after a short time, he said.
Ladurner-Strolz said the available workforce in Austria could not necessarily fill the vacancies. She said unemployed people referred to tourism jobs often had no interest in the work or did not want to move.
The delay follows a previous quota system that required businesses to use at least 75 percent of their allocation. That threshold was not met, so a new decision is pending. Labour Minister Korinna Schumann had promised a new decree by September 30 if the previous one was not extended.
Vorarlberg had a quota of 1,161 seasonal workers from outside the EU through the end of September, with an average utilisation rate of 65.5 percent, according to the ministry. Across Austria, the rate was 63.25 percent, or 5,060 of 8,000 available workers. Lower Austria recorded the highest rate at nearly 73 percent, while Vienna had the lowest at 24 percent.
Ladurner-Strolz said the failure to reach the 75 percent threshold showed that the industry did not need as many workers from abroad as the quota allowed. She said applications for prospective seasonal workers had been with the Austrian Employment Service since mid-September and businesses were still waiting for confirmation.