Labour are now competing with the unions and the distinction between the two labour
organizations has become somehow blurred (Tálos 1997). Moreover, a Chamber which has to
attract members gains internal legitimacy, but spends resources on superficial public relations
and thus cannot concentrate exclusively on its original tasks anymore (Cerny 1995, p. 118).
The Chamber of Business faced criticism in the beginning of the 1990s, too. Until the end of
the 1980s mainly two permanent groups politically affiliated to the two major parties were
running in Chamber elections: the ÖWB (affiliated to the ÖVP), holding around 80 percent
of the mandates, and the Social-Democratic FWV, holding around 10 percent. In 1995, the
FPÖ-affiliated RFW, which objects to compulsory membership in the Chamber, became the
second strongest group (16.8 %). Moreover, the voter turnout fell from 79 percent in 1975 to
52 percent in 1995 (Traxler & Zeiner 1997).
In a survey among members of the WKÖ in 1993, 78 percent of employers complained about
unnecessary burdens by bureaucratic practices. For example, young employers experienced
many obstacles when they first got in touch with the WKÖ in the form of regulations,
incorporation fees, and membership dues. As a consequence of these criticisms, the Chamber
of Business aimed at reforming their financing methods, service offers, and their corporate
identity (most notably changing the name to WKÖ) and professionalized their administration
and public relations at the beginning of the 1990s.
Yet, these reforms could not bring the criticism against the corporatist system to an end. The
Chambers of Labour had to face another legitimacy crisis after the voter turnout at the next
AK-election in autumn 1994 dwindled even more to only 31 percent.
affiliated group, which prominently agitated against compulsory membership, almost
doubled its votes from 7,7 to 14,4 percent. In addition, recurring debates on the remuneration
of Chamber functionaries – the old regulations before the reform of 1992 were transitionally
still in place – and the uncovering of another severe scandal with regard to a functionary’s
salary gave the impression that the Chambers were not able to reform themselves (Cerny
1995, p. 114). The populist far-right FPÖ succeeded especially well in taking up this issue.
They declared compulsory membership in the Chambers to be superseded and accused the
Labour Chambers of wasting workers’ money (Der Standard, 27 September 1994). Whereas
13
See §§ 48 Abs 3, 49 Abs 6, 51 AKG 1992.
14
As has been shown, the AK-reform of 1992 aimed at simplifying the election process and its preparation in
order to increase the voter turnout. However, at the same time it extended the franchise to unemployed, low-
income earners, and similar groups, which arguably only had a minor interest in the Chamber elections, so that
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Convention