The Federation of Austrian Industrialists

The principal private-sector organization is the Federation of Austrian Industrialists (Vereinigung Österreichischer Industrieller--VÖI), founded in 1941. In the late 1980s, its membership consisted of about 2,400 firms employing about 420,000 persons. Although the VÖI does not have the legal status of the Federal Economic Chamber, it occupies one of that chamber's two seats on the Social and Economic Affairs Committee of the Parity Commission for Prices and Wages (commonly known as the Parity Commission). Because the VÖI represents the interests of most large-scale private-sector industry, it essentially controls the industry sector of the Federal Economic Chamber. It also deals directly on behalf of its members with the appropriate ministries and committees of the Nationalrat. Like the chambers, the VÖI submits recommendations on proposed legislation. It is also active in handling relations between domestic industries and foreign industrial associations.