Thousands of Swiss take to streets to mark May Day
Workers and activists have been celebrating May Day in Switzerland with rallies in numerous cities urging their government to address employment issues, such as equal pay.
This content was published on
2 minutes
SDA-ATS/sb
Português
pt
Milhares de suíços tomam as ruas para marcar o 1° de maio
Around 50 rallies and events are planned across Switzerland. On Tuesday morning, 13,000 took part in a demonstration in Zurich city centre. Other major rallies were held in Basel in the morning, and in Bern and Geneva in the afternoon.
Swiss unions came together under the slogan of “Equal pay. Period”, to demand equal salaries for men and women. In 2017, women in Switzerland earned on average CHF600 ($607) less per month than their male counterparts.
To mark May Day, Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga traveled to Ennenda in canton Glarus, where she visited a chocolate factory and met employees. Meanwhile, Swiss President Alain Berset gave speech in Sion, the capital of canton Valais, at the invitation of the Federation of Valais Trade Unions.
“Unequal pay] is one of the biggest scandals in our country right now,” he told the audience.
Global event
International Workers’ Day is a public holiday in many countries. In Moscow, over 100,000 people came out on the streets to march in the traditional May Day parade. In Istanbul, police detained dozens of demonstrators during May Day events, most of them protesters who tried to march toward the city’s symbolic main square in defiance of a ban.
Elsewhere, some 340,000 people are thought to have participated in almost 500 May Day events across Germany. In Greece, thousands of people marched through Athens in at least three separate May Day demonstrations. More than 70 cities across Spain held May Day marches calling for gender equality, higher salaries and pensions. In Indonesia, 10,000 workers from various labour groups rallied near the presidential palace in Jakarta to voice their demands.
Meanwhile in Paris French riot police used water cannon and teargas against hundreds of hooded protesters after they smashed shop windows and hurled petrol bombs at the start of an annual May Day rally in the capital.
This content was published on
Nemo brought the Eurovision Song Contest to Switzerland with a victory on Saturday evening in Malmö, Sweden. It is Switzerland's third victory in the history of the music contest.
Switzerland abstains from vote on Palestinian bid for full UN membership
This content was published on
On Friday, Switzerland abstained from the vote at the General Assembly on granting the Palestinians new rights at the United Nations (UN).
Protein in abdominal fat could help shape obesity treatment
This content was published on
The study analysed fat cells from different locations in the body, and found that those in the abdomen have unique properties.
North African asylum claims fall after rapid Swiss processing
This content was published on
The accelerated procedure, now out of its test phase, has resulted in a significant drop in applications from North African countries.
This content was published on
The artist's song "The Code" focuses on their journey as a nonbinary individual. It is one of the favourites to win this year's contest.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Unions seek to blacklist Swiss firms that underpay women
This content was published on
Union umbrella group Travail Suisse is calling for the introduction of a blacklist to shame Swiss companies that fail to pay women and men equally.
Trade unions call for fewer hours, more gender equality
This content was published on
The Swiss Trade Union Federation is demanding shorter work weeks, compensation for pension losses and enforcement of equal pay for men and women.
Over two million Swiss are covered by collective labour contracts
This content was published on
According to the office, 2,066,550 workers (out of a total working population of 4.7 million) are employed under the terms and conditions of 600 different collective labour agreements. Almost half of all employees work in industries or sectors offering collective labour agreements with binding regulations. The statistics refer to the situation in March 2016. +…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.