No solution found over cargo strike
Talks between Swiss Federal Railways, unions and strikers aimed at trying to end a walkout at the company's cargo division have finished without resolution.
Representatives were unable to reach an agreement at a meeting in Biasca in the southern canton of Ticino which went on into late Saturday evening.
Federal Railways has announced more than 400 job cuts at its cargo unit after the freight operation suffered a loss of SFr190 million ($190.3 million) last year.
This has prompted a public outcry particularly in the Ticino region. Workers at a maintenance depot in the town of Bellinzona have been on strike for more than a week.
Federal Railways boss Andreas Meyer said that the six-hour exchange – the first time all the sides had met after the announcement – had been intensive.
He told Swiss television that the company had proposed negotiations over a period of two months to find an alternative to the cutbacks. This would take into consideration any political decisions on the issue, he added.
Meyer nevertheless said that the strike was illegal and had to be stopped before a solution could be found.
Proposal to be discussed
Unions and strikers said that workers would continue to down tools for now. Discussions on the Federal Railways’ proposal will take place on Monday morning.
However, the head of the strikers, Gianni Frizzo, told the AP news agency that he doubted that it was enough to stop the walkout.
Workers want the 126 jobs that are threatened at the site, key to the economy of the area, to be maintained. Last Saturday several thousand people took to the streets in Bellinzona to show their solidarity.
Apart from Bellinzona, cuts have been announced at sites in Basel and Fribourg. A further 200 jobs at sites across the country are to be relocated.
Strikes in Switzerland are still a relatively rare occurrence.
The government has called on both sides to resolve the conflict peacefully. Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger has said that the planned overhaul at the cargo division was inevitable to ensure the survival of the company.
But he has described as “disappointing” a series of deficits of the company.
Parliament is due to debate the crisis next week.
swissinfo with agencies
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 tonne-km of traffic last year.
The lion’s share of cargo traffic is transalpine freight on the north-south axis through Switzerland.
The cargo division was launched as a business unit in 2000 and has been plagued with deficits and restructuring.
Last year, the company posted a deficit of SFr190.4 million, as its international subsidiaries in Germany and France suffered major losses.
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