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Wage dumping

This content was published on May 3, 2011 The building and restaurant sectors are among those more exposed to salary undercutting and other illegal practices towards the foreign work force. The case of a kitchen apprentice who used to work for less than the minimum wage. (TSR/swissinfo.ch)

More cases of salary undercutting reported

This content was published on May 3, 2011 The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs – a unit of the economics ministry – said nearly two in five employees in sectors with collective labour agreements, and a further 12 per cent in sectors without such regulations, were affected in 2010. The authorities said they reviewed the working conditions of more than 40,000 people in…

St Beatus Caves and Caving Museum

This content was published on May 2, 2011 A popular destination overlooking Lake Thun, follow in the footsteps of Goethe, Richard Wagner and Lord Byron. After a walk through the woods to the cave entrance, go underground and tour the network of caves with their massive limestone formations, subterranean river and waterfall. According to the legend, holy Beatus from Ireland used to live…

Unions say wage gap continues to widen

This content was published on Apr 30, 2011 Employers have relativised the findings, saying an influx of foreign firms has had an influence on the statistics. Switzerland is growing richer from year to year. Yet many people seem to have less money in their pockets at the end of the month. It was widely assumed that the salaries of the top income earners…

Youth science judged exceptional

This content was published on Apr 30, 2011 The winning projects included studies about women in management positions and the mathematical intricacies of a popular card game known as Jass. The jury evaluated 64 projects by 78 young people aged between 16 and 23. A further 19 projects were judged to be “excellent”. Present at the awards ceremony in Zurich was Economics Minister…

Qatar bankrolls revamped five-star hotel

This content was published on Apr 29, 2011 But it remains to be seen whether the Swiss capital, which is better known as a political than a financial location, is big enough for two five-star hotels – the Bellevue Palace being the other. On April 16 the ribbon was cut on the lobby and bar, then the restaurant, and over the coming weeks…

SNB profit jumps 20 per cent in Q1

This content was published on Apr 29, 2011 The result rests largely on profits from foreign currency positions, which increased to SFr1.6 billion compared with a loss of SFr872 million for the same period a year earlier. The bank said strong fluctuations in the results were normal as its business depends mostly on gold, foreign exchange positions and capital markets. The SNB, which…

UBS defends criticism of banking laws

This content was published on Apr 28, 2011 At the bank’s annual general meeting in Basel on Thursday, UBS chairman Kaspar Villiger said the bank wasn’t threatening to pull some of its business out of Switzerland, but he pointed to consequences if the country went it alone for a long period of time. He rejected the argument that UBS wasn’t in a position…

Graduate job prospects improve over time

This content was published on Apr 28, 2011 According to a Federal Statistical Office survey published on Thursday, the unemployment rate among university graduates is 5.8 per cent in the first year, but only 2.3 per cent five years after finishing their studies. Graduates of universities of teacher training had the lowest unemployment rates – 0.5 per cent – irrespective of when they…

Sales dip hits Logitech figures

This content was published on Apr 28, 2011 The company, which has its headquarters in Morges on Lake Geneva, reported making $128.4 million (SFr111.9 million) in net profit for the year, compared with $64.9 million in the previous year. It had expected a higher growth but experienced a 17 per cent dip in sales in the second half of the fourth quarter in…

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