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One tram stop away from the Universal Postal Union building is the headquarters of the Unia trade union in Bern. Here President Vania Alleva (54) receives Blick in her office. A Unia flag hangs in the corner. A white Unia construction helmet adorns her desk. And behind her office chair hangs a photo of a wild pair of defensive women. The prickly cacti on the window were not really necessary to demonstrate: this is not the headquarters of a Montessori school, the labor dispute continues here.
Blick: Ms. Alleva, if a survey of employers is to be believed, there is hardly any inexplicable pay gap between women and men. According to this, female employees earn only 3.3 percent less.
Vania Alleva: Exactly, there is no more wage discrimination – and the earth is flat! Sorry, but that’s a bad joke. We stick to the official figures from the federal government: the income of women is 19.5 percent lower than that of men. More than 45 percent of the wage difference cannot be explained. And the women have a third less pension because they take care of the lion’s share of the unaffordable care work.
But …
… nothing then! Women perform 5.5 billion hours of care work per year. You are missing 315 billion Swiss francs. In addition, the pay gap has widened again since 2016. That’s the reality. Low and middle incomes in particular suffer from the loss of purchasing power. And women are disproportionately represented here. In addition, there is structural wage discrimination in women’s positions: the lower the proportion of men in an industry, the lower the hourly wage. This is statistically verifiable.
Swiss-Italian dual national Vania Alleva (54) grew up in Zurich as the daughter of a truck driver and a seamstress. She studied art history in Rome. In 1997 she started working for the construction and industry trade union, which was absorbed into the current Unia. Since mid-2015, Alleva has become the first woman to chair the union alone.
Swiss-Italian dual national Vania Alleva (54) grew up in Zurich as the daughter of a truck driver and a seamstress. She studied art history in Rome. In 1997 she started working for the construction and industry trade union, which was absorbed into the current Unia. Since mid-2015, Alleva has become the first woman to chair the union alone.
You just don’t like the study, do you?
She is not representative. It is based on unverified statements from companies with more than 100 employees. Of this one percent of all Swiss companies, less than ten percent is included in the survey. To my knowledge, the employee representatives and trade unions have never been included in the vast majority of the analyses. Yet there is still an inexplicable wage difference of up to 8.3 percent. A tolerance deduction of 5 percentage points is quickly subtracted from that to show a difference of only 3.3 percent. Do you think that’s serious?
Apparently not you.
The figures are not a reference. Much more exciting is the hidden agenda of the employers behind it: it simply claims that equality has been achieved. And the women are told that they have to do more paid work, then they get a higher wage.
Hidden agenda? A nasty accusation!
This is employer policy. During the last women’s strike in 2019, we were on the streets of Switzerland with half a million people. That must be quite ingrained for employers and right-wing parties. That’s why they’ve been trying to play down our concerns for months. For example, the employer is constantly engaged in part-time bashing: either the women must be 120 percent available for the company, or they simply go back to the stove. It would be more effective to help improve childcare so that it is affordable and actually useful to families.
If women don’t want that, their payday gets smaller and later their pension. You must see that, right?
They adopt the discourse of the employers, according to which the women themselves are to blame! The employers’ organization ignores what else women do and that they receive even less income for it. Employers are clearly downplaying the large income gap for women.
Why should employers do this?
Because they don’t want to pay fair wages.
You can’t be serious!
Why do you think we still have this huge gender pay gap? The average wage difference is 1,500 francs per month. That’s raking up!
Given the shortage of skilled labour, companies can no longer afford to pay unfair wages.
Of course, these companies are shooting themselves in the foot. But employers block any progress. That’s why we women have to fight back again and again. Equality, wages and pensions can only move forward with the pressure of the streets and businesses. That’s why the women’s strike is so important.
What is needed to improve the situation for women?
In addition to affordable childcare, we especially need short-time work. This way, the care work can be distributed more fairly over several shoulders. In the watch industry, where GAV negotiations are currently taking place, a 36-hour work week is a requirement. It should go in this direction. And decent minimum wages are needed: 4,500 francs for unskilled workers and 5,000 francs for people who have completed an apprenticeship. The upgrading of the so-called women’s industries is urgently needed.
Do you really think that companies in the Jura and Ticino can afford such minimum wages?
Do you think the yogurt in the Delsberger Migros or the Coop in Lugano is cheaper?
No, but eating out and the rent.
We are not talking about sky-high wages, but about minimum wages and the fact that these must also be firmly anchored in so-called women’s practices in collective labor agreements.
The bilateral agreements with the EU also need sustainability. Why are the unions totally against a framework agreement?
That is not good! We are in favor of an open, social Switzerland with strong wage protection. And against wage dumping, both in Switzerland and in Europe. That’s why we had to stop the failed Cassis framework agreement. Because it wanted to sacrifice Swiss wage protection. That would cost all employees dearly. Since then, we have been in talks with the Bundesrat to ensure that this does not happen again with a subsequent framework agreement. And we have also made concrete proposals. So far, the employers actively pushing for a new framework agreement have not offered a hand for solutions that secure workers’ wages. This is deadly.
You emphasize the demand for more GAV in the women’s strike. They demand “respect, more pay, more time!” Respect is also about preventing sexual harassment.
There should be zero tolerance here. The number of cases of sexual harassment in the workplace is alarming. Especially in the hospitality industry. Unia-Jugend conducted a survey among more than 800 students from different sectors. A third of those surveyed said they had been sexually harassed at work. It is clear that this has lifelong consequences in young people. This is also why the women’s strike is so important!
So you’re going to take to the streets on June 14 for all these concerns?
Yes, with tens of thousands of other women. And I can only recommend it to everyone: come too, join us! We will send a clear signal. We will be great and mighty. More than 20 demos are announced throughout Switzerland. Many will take the women’s strike to the factories – and even Peter is well disposed towards us this Wednesday.
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
