Swiss workers stage rare strike in Basel
A strike at the private central laundry in Basel has stopped operations for the day. Unions hindered people from starting work at the Zeba company from the early hours.
A strike at the private central laundry in Basel has stopped operations for the day. Unions hindered people from starting work at the Zeba company from the early hours.
All entrances were blocked, with management and those employees willing to work unable to gain access.
The one-day warning strike is in protest at a planned 25 per cent salary cut decided three weeks ago for 68 of the workforce of 210. Their salaries are due to be cut from an average SFr4,200 a month to SFr3,100. The company, which made a loss last year, has described the new salary as “standard for the industry”.
Under the motto: “No clean washing for dirty salaries”, the strikers are demanding that the planned cut be scrapped, arguing that “mismanagement and failed investment” should not have consequences for company employees.
Former union secretary Veronica Schaller, a member of the Basel government and chairwoman of Zeba, has described the strike as “illegal” because it contravened the obligation to solve conflicts peacefully.
As before privatisation, canton Basel City is the majority shareholder in the company.
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