Swiss trade unions call for solidarity on Labour Day

Trade unions call for solidarity on Labour Day Keystone-SDA

Trade unions have called for rallies across Switzerland on Thursday, May 1. Under the slogan "Solidarity instead of hatred, unity makes us strong", they want to mobilise the working population against right-wing extremist circles.

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The social and trade union movement said it faces the challenge of asserting itself against the alliance of right-wing extremists, large corporations and the neoliberal elite. Cohesion and a commitment to social progress, fairly distributed prosperity, justice and equality are the strongest weapons against this, according to an appeal by the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions in the run-up to Labour Day.

“Right-wing extremists around the world are working hand in hand with billionaires, libertarians and fundamentalist circles against the working population,” said the federation. A counter-revolution of big business against the social progress of recent decades is underway, it said. Gender equality and other hard-won rights are being attacked head-on as a result, the umbrella organisation continued.

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The purchasing power of working people is falling, while shareholders and entrepreneurs are becoming ever richer, it said. In Switzerland, too, large sections of the economic elite are increasingly focusing on nationalism and xenophobia. it said. Under the pretext of a shortage of skilled labour, employers are demanding longer working hours and an increase in the retirement age, it said, adding that no solutions were being offered to concrete problems such as the loss of purchasing power and rising rents.

Neoliberal elite “pouring oil on the fire”

It said the politicial right is increasingly dictating the political agenda, including with the “dangerous” initiative from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party against a “Switzerland of ten million”, which will be presented to parliament in the spring.

According to the federation, the isolationist initiative calls for an even more restrictive asylum policy and leads to the end of the free movement of people and wage protection. The neoliberal elite is doing nothing to counter this threatening development, it said. “Instead, it is prevaricating and pouring oil on the fire of agitation,” says the federation.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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