Collective Bargaining, Work-life balance, Switzerland

The vpod/ssp public service union is having a busy autumn with a wide range of actions around the country as it increases its efforts to protect and improve pay. Public service workers in Bern had a pay increase of only 0.5% in 2023 and have been offered only 2% for 2024, ignoring union protests and a petition with 16,195 signatures. A further petition will be handed over on 16 November and action is planned for 4 December. In Dübendorf, over 70% of the permanent workforce signed a petition calling for a fair and transparent wage system and cost-of-living adjustment for 2023. The vpod in

The vpod/ssp public services union has launched an organising and collective bargaining initiative to boost the level of activism in the union across the country. The aim is to talk to members and workers at local level to find out the main issues of concern and discuss what can be done in response. Pay and staffing levels have unsurprisingly emerged among the hottest issues as the bus has made its way through health and social care workplaces in Basel, Bern and the regions of Solothurn and St.Gallen. However, workers have also raised concerns about fair working hours, having proper breaks

The health conference of the vpod public service union has called for action to tackle the stress, long working hours, involuntary part-time work and low pay in the sector which is part of the persistent discrimination faced by women workers. The union wants to see a revaluation of pay of health and care jobs to recognise the arduousness and increased responsibilities of many occupations. Vpod is also calling for major improvements to work-life balance, reductions in working time, better shift planning, possibilities for retirement from 60 and provision of necessary training. The union says

The federal collective bargaining committee, including public services union vpod, is calling on the government to include in the 2020 budget funding for a pay rise to fully compensate for inflation. It also wants a minimum increase CH 200 (EUR 175) per month to the benefit of lower paid workers. The positive fiscal situation means that the government is also committed to a pay rise in 2019 to cover inflation. The unions also want concrete measures on work-life balance for those with caring responsibilities.

The vpod/SSP public services union has called on the government to ensure it budgets for a pay increase of at least 1.5% for all federal employees. Working with other public service unions, the vpod/SSP says the government should now end its austerity policies towards its employees, particularly in the light of a CH Fr 5 billion surplus. The unions are worried that the government will use the surplus to cuts taxes and argue that federal workers haven't seen a real increase in pay since a 0.7% rise in 2014 and so a pay rise should be a priority.

On 11 December hundreds of employees of the Zürich cantonal (regional) government mobilised in a demonstration over pay. Their union, vpod/ssp, said that a survey of members had revealed widespread dissatisfaction over pay and the loss of purchasing power over recent years. A key negotating demand from the unions as a first step in restoring real pay levels is a 2% increase for all workers earning up to CH FR 100000 a year, with a 1% increase for those earning above that level.

The SGB trade union confederation and the vpod public services union have called for a general wage increase of between 1.5% and 2.0%. But the vpod also highlights the need to address the fall in real pay in the public services as well as the importance of ensuring higher pay for jobs dominated by women. Meanwhile the federal court has thrown out a challenge to a proposed minimum wage in the Neuenberg Canton, opening the way to implementation of an hourly minimum of CHFr 20 (€17.50).

(April 2017) The vpod public services union has welcomed the negotiation of a new collective agreement that covers around 18000 workers employed by health institutions in the Bern region. Nursing staff, doctors as well as catering and cleaning staff will all be covered by the agreement which will come into effect on 1 January 2018. There will be a new pay system and improved paternity and adoption leave in some institutions along with other benefits like additional holidays. The minimum wage in the agreement will be CHFr 4000 (EUR 3750) per month over 12 months although the unions were aiming

(February 2017) The vpod public service union has won a court case against the Canton of Zürich which had refused to recognise the trade union as a negotiating partner, agreeing only to negotiate with the VPV federation of unions that vpod had been a member of over10 years ago. The union says it will continue to defend its right to negotiate even if the Canton appeals the case to the federal or European court.