Union boss Maillard: Father Courage is bursting with strength

Even before he won the vote on the 13th AHV pension, Maillard was a political heavyweight. Now the SP Council of States is brimming with strength – and hunger for power. Those who stand in his way often lose out. Former SP faction leader Roger Nordmann (50) can tell a few things about it. He wanted to become a state councilor, but in the end he remained a national councilor and Maillard came to Stöckli.

Maillard cannot really believe the AHV’s victory yet. On Sunday evening, when the last interview was given, he went out for tapas with family and friends. “In recent weeks I kept thinking about an older woman who sent us twenty francs with the words: ‘That’s all I have.’” He felt obligated to this great man, says Maillard.

He was encouraged at the SVP conference

Maillard is a storyteller. The trade union federation has its chief economist Daniel Lampart (55) for complicated figures. Maillard, on the other hand, does not rely on statistics, but on real-life stories. The big one who sends him 20 francs. The single parent who can no longer pay her bills. The widow who is afraid of heating costs.

Already during his appearance at the Albisgüetli conference of the SVP in Zurich, he noticed that the mood was turning in favor of the 13th AHV pension. “Many SVP members came to me and said we were right,” he said, adding that he still had to thank the old federal councilors who had written a letter against the pension supplement. “Many who earn more than a quarter of a million francs a year have no idea how normal people are doing.”

The employers’ organization and Economiesuisse also receive a big compliment from Maillard: “The top wages are exploding, just like the dividends. Before the associations invest millions of francs in campaigns, they must credibly demonstrate that the good economic situation helps everyone and not just them.

If the union boss has his way, the 13th AHV pension must be paid out in December 2025. A kind of Christmas bonus for all retirees. “The ball is now in the court of the Federal Council.” This should quickly implement the people’s clear decision.

He is more interested in letters than files

And the financing? “We have deliberately omitted the details of the financing,” says Maillard. He would prefer to see a solution through wage contributions. If VAT were ultimately increased, it would place a disproportionate burden on the poorest. “But you would still have more money in your pocket than without the 13th AHV,” the union boss is convinced.

Maillard, the concierge. Even though he is currently having the run of his life, Maillard says he has been able to achieve more on a small scale as part of the Vaud government. “Every day I felt like I had solved a problem,” he says. Even as an executive politician, he preferred to solve the problems of the common people. “Mr. Government Councilor, I have lost my apartment and I don’t know where to go with my family”: such letters interested him more than thick files. “I couldn’t always help, but we always tried.”

Maillard, the father of courage in Swiss politics, dared and won. But after the fight is before the fight: with the European file, Maillard already has the next enormous task ahead of him. Maillard emphasizes: he is not a Blocher, not an anti-European, not a blocker. The unions wanted to protect wages and strengthen public services. “If the Federal Council would accommodate us, a solution would be possible. But he has other goals,” he says.

He’s playing with fire, say the critics

Whether it concerns expenditure, the liberalization of the electricity market or the SBB monopoly: Maillard is in battle mode. “We don’t want to open Pandora’s Box. If something is liberalized, it is difficult to turn back the wheel.”

The victory in the 13th AHV pension makes Maillard’s hunger for power even greater. For example, cost regulation only affects a small proportion of foreign employees. But should that mean sacrificing Europe? The union boss does not accept this argument. Anyone who works in Switzerland must also receive the Swiss expense rate. Depending on the sector, up to 20 percent are affected.

Maillard’s critics see it differently. Former Swiss ambassador Daniel Woker (76) believes that Maillard is playing with fire: “With his total opposition, he is endangering Switzerland’s European future. And this is due to a triviality such as expense regulations, which are applied quite elastically by the richer EU countries. Maillard says he is concerned about the principle.

Children want to go to the football match

There is no relaxation at the moment. In between the years the union boss was briefly in Engelberg OW; his father-in-law has an apartment there. He wants to travel to England with his family at Easter. He bought tickets for the Liverpool-Brighton football match, but only received two tickets. Son and daughter want to go to the stadium, but need an adult to accompany them. “My children love football and are Liverpool fans,” says Maillard.

Maillard ate his pizza. He has to go to the next appointment. Just as he is not dogmatic about vegetarian pizza, he is also open to compromises in negotiations with Brussels, he says. Under one condition: “The workers in Switzerland must be among the winners.”