Around 30,000 people have gathered outside parliament, according to union organisers, protesting against the dismantling of the welfare state at a time of crisis.
This content was published on
1 minute
“We’ve had enough of these ‘bonus knights’ riding around and managers on excessive salaries,” Paul Rechtsteiner, president of the Swiss Trade Union Federation, told the audience in Bern’s packed Parliament Square on Saturday.
He also criticised working conditions and pressure placed on workers by managers who themselves “filled their pockets”.
The public should not bear the brunt of unemployment insurance cuts, a higher retirement age and drops in pension scheme payments, he added.
Rechtsteiner also criticised the House of Representatives’ decision on Tuesday to adopt a slimmed down version of the government’s third economic stimulus package – while the government didn’t hesitate to bail out UBS.
The package, intended to support the labour market and the unemployed, was reduced by parliamentarians from SFr400 million ($386 million) to SFr65 million.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Pressure grows for six weeks’ vacation
This content was published on
Citing stress and the need to be on a par with other European countries, the trade union umbrella organisation Travail Suisse is putting the case for more time off. It has backed up its argument with an initiative signed by 108,000 people. After the signatures have been checked by the Federal Chancellery in Bern, the…
This content was published on
Swiss engineering firm Sulzer announced 1,400 global redundancies on Wednesday while chemicals maker Clariant confirmed 500 job losses at the weekend. Other manufacturers, the watch and finance industries are also laying off workers. The run of bad news appears to confirm the expectation of economists that some 5.5 per cent of the workforce will be…
This content was published on
On Thursday the Senate rejected salary caps and a ban on special payments to senior managers. A people’s initiative had demanded the restrictions to counter what it considers excessive pay packages. But the Senate came out in favour of granting shareholders the right to set the remuneration for company board members. The other parliamentary chamber,…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.