Rally: Demonstrators in Bern demand increased salaries and pensions

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Participants in the rally came from all over the country, a correspondent of the Keystone-SDA news agency reported. They demanded that politicians take rapid action to reduce the premium burden. Tenants also need to be protected from the abuses and excessive returns of the real estate industry.

The SGB unions, the Travail.Suisse associations, the SP, the Greens and the tenants’ association called for a rally. They assumed there were around 20,000 demonstrators. They had to briefly split the parade from the city center to the Bundesplatz in order to keep to the schedule.

“Everything is becoming more expensive; wages and pensions are increasing!” One of the many banners carried read: «Increasing profits or falling wages? Not with us!” was another slogan. A woman wrote on a piece of cardboard that she was tired of wondering whether she should give up the job she loved to finally earn a decent wage.

At the Bundesplatz, Pierre-Yves Maillard, President of the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions, put the demonstrators in the mood for declining wages. Workers’ real income fell for the third consecutive year in 2023. The fourth round of negative charges needs to be prevented.

It’s time for higher wages. Unemployment is at two percent and profits and dividends are higher than ever. In this case, wages must be guaranteed to correspond to the cost of living.

What is needed, according to the organisers’ joint statement, are general wage increases beyond bonuses, rent, electricity and general price increases. There is enough money for everyone to live on their income.

The burden of health insurance premiums is becoming “unbearable.” What is urgently needed is not tax cuts for the rich and high-income earners, but higher premium reductions that will ease the burden on low- and middle-income earners.

The explosion in rents also needs to be stopped by setting limits on possible increases. There is also a need for reform in the electricity market. This practice of transferring risks to consumers through price increases and at the same time making billions in profits for large corporations needs to end.

(SDA)

Source :Blick