Building workers fight to save labour accord
Around 15,000 construction workers from across Switzerland demonstrated in Zurich on Saturday against the termination of their collective labour contracts.
Trade unions fear that when the building industry’s labour agreement expires on September 30, wages will go down and working conditions worsen.
Construction workers from around the country flocked to Zurich on board chartered buses and special trains to take part in the demonstration.
A union official addressing the crowd said they were “ready for a fight”.
The workers reject a package of measures offered to them earlier this week by the Swiss Master Builders’ Association including a 2.7 per cent salary increase from next year.
In a vote, 85 per cent of the union members said they were ready to strike for better terms.
Salary dumping
“From October 1 there will be no minimum wage and there will be a big problem of salary dumping,” Nico Lutz, spokesman for Switzerland’s largest trade union, Unia, told swissinfo.
“It’s clear that the people who work hard in these jobs every day won’t accept this. They will fight for a new contract and that’s where we start on Saturday.”
Employers in the building sector also want a new contract, but one that they consider more in keeping with the times.
“Swiss construction companies are not satisfied with the current contract because it does not provide the necessary flexibility for the employers to change wage hours and to adjust salaries according to performance,” Martin Fehle, a vice-director of the Master Builders’ Association, told swissinfo.
He said the association considered the wage increase “good remuneration” for the work done in the sector.
General rise
The 2.7 per cent increase includes a general raise of 1.3 per cent, with an extra 0.7 per cent based on performance. The remaining 0.7 per cent is what employees used to pay into a fund for training, which has now been abolished.
“We think that with the current inflation at 0.4 per cent, you have a real increase of at least 1.5 per cent,” Fehle argued.
Lutz at Unia begs to differ. “It’s just a recommendation without any legal basis and the employers can do what they want – follow it or not.”
“A lot of employers don’t follow the current contract but with it [at least] we have the possibility of controlling working conditions and fining those [companies] that don’t follow it,” he said.
Figures presented by the Unia and Syna unions on Wednesday revealed that out of 5,000 checks of companies made between January 2006 and June this year, one in four firms was guilty of not paying the minimum wage to its employees.
Changing conditions
The Master Builders’ Association is asking the unions to accept that conditions for building companies have changed.
“We cannot accept their attitude that the current contract should be preserved. We want a change. We want a modern contract that is easier to implement for the companies,” Fehle argued, adding that strikes helped no one.
“I think that if both parties are really interested – and we from our side are – in having a new modern contract, it should be possible to find solutions for outstanding issues within half a year’s time.”
For the time being, the unions are not so optimistic. “There will be negotiations on October 4 but we don’t expect too much from the employers… that they are really willing to find a solution,” said Lutz.
“It’s clear that if the people have no other choice they will fight for their contracts, also with strikes.”
swissinfo, Robert Brookes
Around 80,000 people are fully employed in the Swiss building industry, with around a further 20,000 working temporarily.
35.2% of those employed are Swiss, 24.7% are from Portugal, 15.5% from Italy, 13% from the former Yugoslavia, 4.3% from Spain, 3% from Germany and 2% from France. The remainder are from other countries.
In its outlook for the third quarter of 2007, Switzerland’s largest bank UBS said that the construction boom was continuing, with positive expectations for the first half of the year confirmed.
Revenues were particularly pleasing, not least thanks to a slight rise in prices.
UBS reported that residential construction sprang a surprise in the second quarter, with activity in new homes going up at a rapid pace, largely due to the arrival of immigrant workers.
It said another underlying factor were Switzerland’s relatively low real estate prices.
UBS added that construction sector could accelerate slightly once more in the second half of the year.
Rivals Credit Suisse reported in February that construction of around 45,000 apartments and houses would be completed this year in Switzerland. It added that although the demand for living space remained constant at a high level, the residential property market was expected to ease.
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