“People don’t want conditions like in Germany.”: Unions criticize concessions to Brussels

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The Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (SGB) and the trade union umbrella organization Travailsuisse are concerned. The reason: the course of Switzerland’s talks with the European Commission. The organizations explained their objections on Monday at a media conference in Bern. They criticized that the project of an institutional framework agreement had become a liberalization programme. The Federal Council must correct these errors.

Overall, the outcome of the explorations was clearly inadequate, said Daniel Lampart, chief economist of the SGB, according to the text of the speech. If Switzerland signs a corresponding agreement, Swiss wage protections would be “dangerously undermined.”

Cost regulations disrupt unions

The unions are particularly bothered by the fact that Switzerland should apply the so-called principle of origin for the expense scheme. This means that employees posted to Switzerland will in future receive expense reimbursement in accordance with regulations in their home country – and no longer in accordance with Swiss collective labor agreements.

This would put Swiss companies and employees at a competitive disadvantage and foreign workers would be discriminated against, the unions criticize.

The principle of ‘equal pay for equal work in the same place’ is in danger of being watered down, says Vania Alleva, president of the Unia trade union, according to the manuscript of the speech. And it is not about ‘peanuts’ at all, but about very significant wage shares for those affected. Even today, posted workers often have to make ends meet in very precarious conditions: “We do not want a return to the conditions of the time of the seasonal worker status.”

“The threatened social upheavals are unacceptable for the workers and for us as trade unions,” Alleva warned. Without improvements in wage protection, there have been repeated setbacks in European policy – ​​for example in 1992 with the EEA vote or in 2014 with the SVP’s mass immigration initiative.

High wage pressure

Lampart emphasized that in no other country is the risk of wage pressure as great as in Switzerland. This is because foreign companies charge much higher prices here and companies from neighboring countries could work in their native language.

If the proportionality principle according to the EU definition now applies to wage protection, this will be more subordinate to market access, according to Lampart. The Swiss control and sanction mechanisms against wage dumping are also at risk of being weakened in several respects.

“People don’t want conditions like in Germany.”

The unions also fear a poorer supply of electricity and rail transport to the population. According to the European Commission, the adoption of EU legislation in these areas, as required by the EU, would mean a full liberalization of the electricity market for small customers and market access for railway companies such as Flixtrain in international passenger transport.

The Swiss electorate and parliament have repeatedly made it clear that they want to stick with the existing public transport system, says Matthias Hartwich, president of the Transport Staff Union (SEV). In Europe, rail liberalization has generally led to poorer services, worse working conditions, punctuality and unreliability: “People don’t want conditions like in Germany.”

While there still seems to be a need for clarification on domestic policy, explorations between Switzerland and the EU have reportedly been concluded: common ‘landing zones’ have been specifically defined as a basis for future negotiations. The results of the exploratory talks must now be recorded in a “joint statement”.

The Federal Council is then expected to present its negotiating mandate in December or January and send it to the two foreign policy committees and the cantons for consultation. Depending on the situation, negotiations could start in February or March next year. (SDA)

+++Update to follow.+++

Source:Blick