Swiss Employers Association Annual Mayday interview

international | worker & community struggles and protests | opinion/analysis

Saturday April 30, 2005 14:40

by Urs Maurer - swissinfo

"we are neither in a labour market or human resources"

You probably as interested in this as you are in the ISRP.

May 1 is International Labour Day, when even Switzerland’s social calm is sometimes threatened by violent demonstrations.

In an interview with swissinfo, Peter Hasler, the director of the Swiss Employers’ Association, gives his take on relations between employers and employees.

he country has long enjoyed a reputation for high wages combined with an unusually strike-free environment.

However, there are signs that the climate is changing. Last year saw the merger of four trade unions to form the largest-ever such body, Unia.

The move, which came against the background of some unusually heated labour disputes, sparked speculation that labour relations may be one more area where Switzerland is increasingly coming to resemble the rest of the world.

swissinfo: What does the May 1 mean for you?

Peter Hasler: Labour Day is an occasion to reflect on the value of work and on the [labour market] situation and to discuss these issues in a forward-looking way. The key question is what it means to have – or not to have – work.

swissinfo: It is generally perceived as a sort of "class combat day". Do the employers use this as an early warning signal or do they choose not to listen?

P.H.: May 1 is a sort of "social barometer" for us and we listen very carefully, even if we do not respond immediately. It provides a glance into the future, where the issues are – or should be – more fundamental than a Swiss franc here or there in wages. We don’t need May 1 for that.

swissinfo: That presupposes that both sides are ready for dialogue. Is that still the case?

P.H.: Dialogue always was and still is possible, even if we hear the odd discordant note. Indeed, it takes place on thousands of occasions – we have about 700 general employment contracts in Switzerland. There are sectors where it is relatively genteel, and there are others where the tone is more strident. This has been the case for a long time. Also, there were times in the past when negotiations were more violent than they are today.

swissinfo: Cost-cutting is now a universal theme and can also mean job cuts. Do employers support this trend with its negative effect on consumption?

P.H.: We support cost-cutting. However, the term is misleading, because public spending is actually increasing all the time. So it is actually a question of preventing further increases. Already today citizens work about six months per year just to pay for state and social spending. What we do not blindly support, however, is cutting public staff and salary levels.

swissinfo: The multimillion-franc salaries of some managers have become a big issue, particularly as most employees haven’t seen their wages rise.

P.H.: Employees have seen their wages rise in recent years, but not to the same extent as the top dogs at large international firms. The salary progression there in recent years really is striking. If you look at managers in the small and medium-size Swiss companies, though, the gap has not increased so noticeably as in the "Champions League". That worries us, as politicians might step in, and we don’t want that. The shareholders of the firms in question should solve these problems.

swissinfo: More and more jobs are being moved abroad and workers here are scared they will be next. Is this inevitable?

P.H.: Yes, it is. This transformation from an industry to a service economy has been going on for 100 years. In Switzerland today, we still only produce absolute top-quality, value-added items. Jobs that do not meet this criterion disappear – it is an ongoing [natural] selection process. The advantage is that the best jobs stay here and – as several surveys show – the process is good for the Swiss economy as a whole. The million or so jobs we have created abroad also help create new jobs here.

swissinfo: We will soon vote on the free movement of people to and from new EU member states. Would you support a minimum wage in Switzerland, to allay fears of wage dumping?

P.H.: We are in favour of the so-called supporting measures. This would make it possible – I stress possible – to introduce minimum wages. But we could not do so in advance. Possibly there will be no wage dumping, because not so many more workers will come to Switzerland.

Also, the six per cent or so of abuses we have discovered to date concern not only wage dumping, but black market labour, work permits and labour laws. There will always be abuses, just as there are always people who abuse road traffic laws – we don’t ban driving as a result.

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German prosecutors ask for a 8 year sentance for a NeoNazi leader.

by -

Tue May 03, 2005 12:14

Martin Wiese, a high-profile right winger, and three others are charged with being members of a terrorist organisation known as "Kameradschaft Sued" (Southern Comrades).

Prosecutors say the group, led by Wiese, planned to attack a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for a new Jewish centre in Munich in November 9, 2003.

The alleged attack, which police foiled, would have coincided with the 65th anniversary of "Kristallnacht" in 1938, when Nazis attacked Jewish shops and synagogues. It was also the date of Adolf Hitler's failed coup in 1923.

Federal prosecutor Bernd Steudl told the court Wiese's goal was to overthrow Germany's democracy, with the attack just the first stage of his campaign.

Swiss dismayed by election of a far-right councilor.

by microcosmic studies

Tue May 03, 2005 10:35

As with all german speaking communities, the Swiss are witnessing an increase in far right beliefs, and social organisations.
Spreading through internet chat-rooms often connected to music, or by word of mouth at concerts of a long list of bands on both the skinhead and rock scene, organised hate is finding new fans throughout Europe.
Dominic Bannholzer, who represents the Party of Nationally Orientated Swiss (PNOS), won a surprise election to the council of the commune of Günsberg in northern Switzerland.
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=107&sid=5736994&cKey=1115106871000
Though his party only boasts a little over a 100 members, it is one of a plethora of fellow travelling groups in german speaking Europe, united by recruitment tactics, revisionist historical outlook, use of symbols including celtic crosses, swastikas, and national eagles, music tastes, and an political vision which is xenophobic, anti-European integration, anti-migrant.
There is evidence that all these micro-parties exchange information and certainly mimic each others rhetoric.
For the moment there is no indication that these youthful groups, (Bannholzer is only 19 years of age and as such is one of the youngest councillors in Switzerland) are copying the centralising curve which brought Heider, the leader of the Austrian neo-nazi party into government coalition. Swiss anti-hate groups do not wish to dramatise the election, and are encouraging all Swiss to report incidents of hate crime to the authorities and of parents to take an interest in the music their children are listening to.

As part of a continent wide security operation, a distrbution network of music, T-shirts and WW2 memorabilia (illegal in both France and Germany)
was closed in Catalonia in the last months in a joint operation between the Spanish Gaurdia Civil and Catalan mossos d 'esquadra. A 26 year old has been convicted.

The move out of football club affiliation and into the local music hall of neo-nazi recruitment supported by internet technology ought be monitored but without confrontation at all municipal levels. It belies a certain change in popular culture amongst dissaffected urban youth, and to some suggests a return to the early years of racist gang orientated acitivity.
Both those movements acting on behalf of minorities and the authorities of all european states (union and others) continue to collate and observe.

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Swiss Employers Association Annual Mayday interview

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