In November (15.11 – 16.11), the ‘fair sorgen!’ conference, which we co-organized, took place in Linz. We were invited by the association ‘fair sorgen!’, with whom we have already collaborated many times.
The conference was intended for all those who are involved in the topic of care work professionally, politically or as activists, and who want to work together to transform our economy and society. The conference was a great success – around 90 people actively took part! Lisette, Jonas and Chris from our association were there.
Workshop on public luxury & UBS
In addition to the conference, we were also an active part of a workshop called “Öffentlicher Luxus durch Bedingungslose Grundversorgung”. This was organized by our member Chris together with Maria Vogt (ÖBV – Via campesina Austria) and Brigitte Kratzwald (Commons). Kurt Schalek (AK Wien) was a guest speaker, who showed us ways to keep profit-oriented actors out of the healthcare sector. Our workshop focused on the fact that public luxury is possible if our resources are (re)distributed fairly and excess wealth is limited, which also leads to the preservation our natural resources. In a fair economy and society, the existence of all and our common livelihoods must be secured. A fundamental building block for this goal is our modified concept of “Universal Basic Services”.
The workshop group was quite small, but it was a lot of fun. During the course of the workshop, there emerged a strong focus on nutrition and agriculture, as many people from the agricultural sector took part, which was a good fit as Maria Vogt brought the necessary expertise to the table.
Diverse Topics & great outcomes
On the first day of the conference, five further workshops were held on the topics “Caregerechtigkeit”, “Arbeit, Wirtschaft und Sozialstaat neu denken”, “Gemeinsam politisch wirksam werden“, “Klimafreundliche sorgende Städte und Gemeinden” and “(Fair)Sorgende Demokratie”. There may be one or two additional webinars on these topics in 2025 to present the results of the conference once again to those who were unable to attend. All of the topics covered at the conference and the relevant materials will be prepared for the website and made available there in the coming months. In addition, there will be two podcast episodes produced by Karin Schuster and Elisabeth Sechser. These will be shared via the “fair sorgen!” social media channels.
During the second day, various actions were devised that will be implemented in the coming months and which you can take part in yourself:
- “Statues” campaign, which will hang baby dolls on male statues in public spaces (contact: Elisabeth Sechser: elisabeth@caringeconomy.jetz, kristina@caringeconomy.jetzt)
- An open letter on “Ending staff shortages” (concerning the care sector) to government negotiators (contact: Elisabeth Klatzer elisabeth.klatzer@gmx.net)
- The campaign “Reduce time pressure, increase staff” (concerning the health care sector) (contact: Helmut Freudenthaler Helmut.Freudenthaler@kepleruniklinikum.at)
- “Sorgende Schulen weiterdenken” (about care-oriented schools & education) (contact: Pauline Graf pauline@colearning.at)
There is also a networking list for these action plans. If you would like to receive invitations to become active, please add your name to the mailing list by sending a short message to: info@fairsorgen.at
The conference was a lot of fun, resulted in many new contacts and will certainly have an impact for months to come.