Protest and politics influence cargo debate

Striking rail workers converged on the capital Bern to protest against planned job cuts swissinfo.ch

Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger has called on striking railway workers to return to their jobs and indicated some proposed layoffs might be off the table.

Wednesday’s appeal came as parliament debated the restructuring of the money-losing cargo division of Swiss Federal Railways while thousands of strikers demonstrated outside.

“Federal Railways is ready to consider alternatives [to job cuts],” Leuenberger told parliament.

Leuenberger added that his ministry would guarantee a fair and open dialogue. A priority now was roundtable talks.

Earlier this month, the freight division announced it would be cutting 400 positions and relocating another 200 after making a SFr190 million ($190 million) loss in 2007.

Ueli Maurer of the rightwing Swiss People’s Party opened the debate in parliament with an attack on the transport minister.

As the afternoon continued, other politicians criticised Federal Railways Cargo, accusing it of incompetence.

Fabio Pedrina of the centre-left Social Democratic Party recommended an overhaul.

The politician from the Italian-speaking canton Ticino, which has been hard hit by the cuts and from where many of the Bern demonstrators had come, argued that Cargo was in need of qualified managers, a better accounting system and of an overall review, while the Green Party recommended a one-time cash injection.

The right of the political spectrum for the most part deemed Cargo’s measures acceptable in light of the losses, calling the strike unacceptable and arguing that guaranteed jobs are a thing of the past.

Following the debate, Andreas Meyer, head of Swiss Federal Railways, confirmed that the company was ready to participate in the round table talks with the Bellinzona workers and indicated that the company might even consider adding jobs to the region.

He also welcomed Leuenberger’s offer to guarantee fair negotiations.

“Resist, resist, resist!”

The debate in parliament came as at least 5,000 employees and their supporters converged outside to protest against proposed layoffs.

The restructuring scheme had touched off a political storm, particularly in the Italian-speaking city of Bellinzona, which was set to lose a locomotive repair shop.

At the time of the announcement, Cargo boss Nicolas Perrin said the move was based on business imperatives and added that political ramifications had not been taken into consideration.

“We cannot make our decisions based on regional politics,” he said.

But in short order, regional politicians, trade unionists and even the local Catholic bishop publicly opposed the plan, and on Wednesday members of the country’s main railway union had joined striking cargo workers.

“Resist, resist, resist,” demonstrators chanted as curious tourists looked on.

After decades of relative harmony between employers and trade unions, Wednesday’s protest through the cobblestone streets of Bern’s old city harkened back to a bygone era.

“The government and parliament chose managers who did not understand what they were doing,” one protestor told swissinfo. “These managers throw away taxpayers’ money.”

The government has appealed to politicians and trade unions in a bid to de-escalate the situation, and in his address Leuenberger spoke in philosophical and pragmatic terms.

“Everything has a time,” he said. “There is a time for anger and a time for reflection.”

swissinfo with agencies

Federal Railways Cargo

Swiss Federal Railways Cargo is Switzerland’s leading provider of freight services.

It has a workforce of about 4,400 and generated 12.3 billion net metric ton-km of traffic last year.

The cargo division was launched as a separate business unit in 2000 and has been plagued with deficits and restructuring.

After losing SFr190.4 million in 2007, it announced layoffs and relocations for sites in Bellinzona, Fribourg, Basel and Biel.

BLS Cargo

While the Swiss Federal Railways has been making losses with its cargo division, the corresponding unit of the BLS Lötschberg Railway has been going from strength to strength.

It announced on Tuesday that it had achieved an increase in its financial performance for the seventh year in a row. Net profit for 2007 was SFr14.9 million ($14.83 million), about SFr4 million more than the previous year.

BLS Cargo, which was founded in 2001, has a market share of 40% in alpine transit goods traffic and notably has a strategic partnership with Germany’s Railion, the cargo and logistics division of Deutsche Bahn.

The Bern-based BLS says a merger with the cargo division of the Swiss Federal Railways is out of the question, arguing that its successful business model would be eroded and differing strategies would not lead to synergies.