GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Hug university hospitals in Geneva late Friday pleaded for everyone involved in its lab workers strike to get the situation back to normal, in the wake of the cantonal council’s announcement Thursday that it will not intervene. At issue: work conditions but also a review of the division of labour. The Conseil d’Etat said Thursday it will not review the issues outside the framework of its Scope project, at the end of 2012. The hospital argue that it does not have the authority to review demarcation disputes over who carries out what tasks. It is taking a number of steps, however, to improve work conditions, it said in a statement released late Friday.
Novartis, near Nyon, had a surprise visit Friday from American boss Joe Jimenez, who talked to employees about efforts to keep the site open. The company announced in October that it is cutting 1,100 staff in Switzerland, including 350 at the Prangins site near Nyon, which would be closed as part of the restructuring measures.
Workers held a one-day strike Wednesday 16 November.
Jimenez Friday told the staff that his wish is to keep the site open, and he is personally involved in efforts to do so. ” He told employees that he intended to visit Prangins and would have done so earlier but for an ultimatic from the Unia union demanding that he come: “I don’t reply to ultimatums,” Jimenez is reported to have said.
“A constructive dialogue with Vaud authorities and the federal government is underway,” Jimenez said in Prangins. “Nevertheless, I would like to point out that Novartis is facing a tough future and that new cost cutting measures are needed if the company is going to maintain its strong investment in R&D.”
The first in a series of scheduled meetings takes place 21 November to seek a solution. It involves a high-level task force involving the company, its employees, the union and government authorities.
Geneva's bankers face worrisome future in a shifting world
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The strong Swiss franc is back in the news 18-19 October, first with Swiss unions saying that they want the euro/Swiss franc exchange rate cap moved to CHF1.40, then the federal government announcing it will extend the period for reimbursement for partial unemployment and finally, the Geneva Financial Centre saying Swiss bankers may welll need to shift their expertise from private to institutional banking as they face a gloomy economic situation.
Bank profits will fall in 2011
Members of the Geneva Financial Center emphasized, speaking at their annual presentation for the media Wednesday, that a number of factors come together to create a worrisome scenario for the future. World markets are struggling, sovereign debt remains a major problem for a number of industrialized countries and the Swiss franc remains grossly overvalued. Profits at most banks will fall in 2011 as a result and belt-tightening will be in order, said Bernard Droux, president.
Partial unemployment due to franc: help for firms extended to 18 months
The Federal Council agreed Wednesday to extend from 12 to 18 months the period covered for companies to be reimbursed if they opt for partial unemployment as a solution in the face of the strong franc hurting their business.
The new measure becomes effective 1 January 2012.
Minimum wage should protect workers, say unions
Unia President Reno Ambrosetti Tuesday called for the Swiss franc to be capped at CHF1.40 rather than 1.20 against the euro, saying that 10,000 jobs are at stake. The major unions are calling for a minimum wage as fears grow that cheap labour will be imported at the expense of Swiss-based workers.
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – France’s police unions are calling it “a huge process for absurd results”: the country’s new law against appearing in public fully veiled goes into effect today. The law has little support from police groups, according to Paris newspaper Le Monde, and Muslim groups are increasing their calls for protests against the law.
France Police notes that “you don’t fight religious extremism with ordinances.”
Sixty-one persons were reported by France 24 to have been arrested Saturday when they tried to take part in a protest march, fully veiled.
Protesting to support Wisconsin workers, in Geneva, Switzerland, 4 April 2011 (photo, Maya Samura)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A small group of about 50 people, mainly Americans, responded Monday 4 April to a call from Democrats Abroad to march in solidarity with workers in Wisconsin, USA.
The group gathered at the United Nations plaza, and included people from the International Labour Organization and Swiss unions.
Government workers in Wisconsin have been at the centre of a tug of war between the state’s Republicans and Democrats over a new law that, according to Associated Press on NPR, would “force public employees to pay more for their health care and pension benefits, which amounts to an 8 percent pay cut. It also would eliminate their ability to collectively bargain anything except wage increases no higher than inflation.”
Democrats Abroad and others protest in Geneva in support of Wisconsin's state workers
A judge rule Friday 1 April that the law must be put on hold for two months while she studies whether it was passed legally and published correctly.
The proposed law prompted sit-ins and protests in the state capital of Madison for weeks, with thousands of workers from other states providing support. It was finally passed when Democrats left the state to avoid a vote and Republicans found a work-around that they believe allowed them to legally vote for and pass the law.
Continuing protests included about 1,000 groups internationally who marched in their support 4 April, according to Maya Samara of Democrats Abroad in Geneva.
Republican lawmakers in the state of Wisconsin have dramatically curtailed the collective bargaining rights of state workers in what National Public Radio calls “one of the strongest blows to the power of unions in years”. The measures were pushed through with sudden political maneuvering. The vote, after a standoff of nearly a month, sent thousands of angry protesters to the state capitol. Madison, the capital of the state, has been the scene of protests, for days, by tens of thousands of people as the acrimonious debates wore on.
Links to other sites: Fox News (with AP), Los Angeles Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, NPR
Buildings go up, but not construction salaries, in Switzerland in 2011
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Travail.Suisse, a union that represents 170,000 workers in three major industries, says it is “satisfied” with salaries negotiated for 2011, up to 3 percent in some cases. The construction business is the only one where negotiators have failed to agree, with companies recommending a 1 percent increase, turned down by the unions. Travail.Suisse would like to see workers continue to make up for weak cost of living increases from 2004 to 2008, when Swiss GDP rose by mor ethan 14 percent, but salaries were barely increased. Real purchasing power for workers rose by 2.6 percent in 2009 thanks to salary increases that outpaced the minimal rise in the cost of living.
Next year should help workers catch up, the group says, with a cost of living increase forecast for 0.7 percent.
Links to other sites: Travail.Suisse (Fre), TSR (Fre)
French workers are on strike again Tuesday 12 October, for the third time in the past 30 days, over government plans to raise the age for pensions from 65 to 67, and the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62. But today’s strikes have a different tone, with major unions scheduled to vote at the end of the day over starting rolling strikes, which would mean advance notice for one-day strikes that could be renewed, by vote, at the end of each day.
Half of French flights have been cancelled Tuesday, and rail service and public transport are badly disrupted. A three-week-old strike in Marseilles is blocking oil tankers, pushing up the price of diesel throughout Europe, according to the BBC.
Burma trade unionists - Photo ITUC
[Video] Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The number of trade unionists murdered in 2009 increased a staggering 30 percent, to 101, worldwide.
According to the International Confederation of Trade Unions (ITUC)’s report, Latin America has become the deadliest region in the world for trade union rights. The report was issued to coincide with the International Labor Organization (ILO) conference taking place in Geneva.
Of the 101 murdered, 48 – including five women – were killed in Colombia, making it the deadliest place in the world for union leaders. Another 40 union workers were killed in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Brazil and the Dominican Republic.
British Rail Maritime and Transport union workers have voted to strike over changing work practices, just as British Air strike talks broke down, threatening to create travel chaos during the upcoming Easter holidays. The union says that 54 percent of its 5,500 signalers voted to strike. Meanwhile, BA says it is preparing for the three-day strike that begins at midnight tonight, 19 March.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two of the three unions representing workers at Edipresse, French-speaking Switzerland’s largest media group, have told the company to start serious negotiations about the conditions for layoffs or face possible industrial action.
The unions representing the print and the technical workers rejected the company’s layoff terms, Wednesday 28 October, and demanded “serious negotiations”. The company has until noon 2 November to respond. An agreement had been reached with Impressum, the union representing journalists, but the print and production workers are reluctant to accept the terms of the layoffs.
© 2009 WHO
Geneva and Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP) recommends that people who come down with symptoms of the flu avoid contact with others to stop the spread of the disease. A humourous new advertising campaign (link below) says it quite clearly. This means staying away from work until the symptoms have gone away, or to care for sick members of the family. In a front-page article 4 August, Le Temps (Fre) asks whether this means that employers will not insist on having a medical cerificate for any absence longer than three days, as stipulated by law: to leave one’s bed to go and see a doctor defeats the purpose of the quarantine.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The four main Swiss unions, which every summer decide on their salary negotiation policies for the coming year, announced Monday 3 August that they will ask for salary increases in several services and industries. Export business are likely to be the main exception, where the focus will be on keeping jobs, says Travail.Suisse, which represents several federations.
The increases are needed, says the organization, to close the gap between the 13.8 percent increase in GDP (gross domestic product) from 2004 t0 2008 and the only slight increase of 0.5 percent in salaries during the same period. Salaries increases would also improve consumer purchasing power, the unions argue, and would thus help the Swiss economy to reboot.
Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Genève, Fre) – the city of Geneva’s notoriously complicated salary and benefits packages is about to be streamlined, with standard pay rates and fewer exceptions, according to the Tribune, which obtained a copy of a political agreement reached after months of wrangling.
