The vpod/ssp public services has launched a campaign and petition – “Nein zu EFAs” – to try to block changes to the healthcare financing system in Switzerland that will have seriously negative consequences for staff and patients.
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 trade union is busy building support for a national demonstration in Bern on 16 September with a key demand for a 5% pay rise. The union highlights recent data on price increases, particularly for energy, while average real pay has fallen for three consecutive years – the first time this has happened for over 70 years. The data also show how the low paid have fared the worse with women forming the majority of this group. Vpod/ssp points out that not only are big private sector employers making large profits but public authorities also have the funds to cover pay rises for their
EPSU affiliate vpod/ssp is mobilising for the annual feminist strike which takes place on 14 June with actions and protests organised across the country. The strike focuses on the continuing inequalities that women face along other forms of discrimination, sexism, sexual harassment and violence. The union highlights data showing an 18% pay gap across the economy with the public sector at 15.1% below the private sector at 19.5% but the figure for the health sector specifically also at 19.5%. Meanwhile women make up two-thirds of the low paid. The figure for part-time work for women – 58% – is
Thousands of employees of the Waadt/Vaud regional government are involved in strikes and protests in response to the employer’s offer of a pay increase of only 1.4%, one of the lowest offered across the whole of the country. The day of action on 31 January was supported by even more workers than the first one on 23 January and the next strikes and protests are set for 9 February. The president of the regional council has attacked the trade unions and is so far refusing to negotiate.
The LSADPS health workers’ union reports that its members in public health will benefit from pay rises of around 14% from the beginning of this month. This is based on the collective agreement negotiated by the LSADPS and eight other health sector trade unions in 2021 and updated in October of last year. Along with higher basic pay there are increases to the coefficients on which salaries are based and these will apply to the members of the trade unions that have signed the agreement. The average increase for all health staff will be around 8%.
The vpod/ssp public services trade union is mobilising its members around the country in support of action to secure higher pay. The union is organising a rally in Bern on 18 November where the regional government is proposing a pay rise of only 2% leaving workers with an effective pay cut. A day of strike action has already taken place in Geneva on 12 October and further action is planned for both 3 and 24 November. Vpod/ssp members in Fribourg are demanding a 4% pay rise in the face of the 2.3% on offer. The union is collecting signatures for a petition which will be handed in on 4 December
The vpod/ssp public services union is mobilising its members around the country to call for higher pay in response to the cost-of-living crisis. In Fribourg the demand will be for a 4% pay increase in response to the regional government’s proposed 2.3% offer. The main demand in the Vaud region will be for a special payment of CHF 100 (€103) for all employees to to compensate for the increase in energy costs. In Geneva, the vpod region is calling for a 5% increase from 1 January 2023 while in Neuchâtel the claim is for 4%-5% percent while in the Jura region the target is 3%. There has been a
The vpod/ssp public services union says that it is totally unacceptable that certain workers in the care sector are denied basic working time rights. At the moment they face long working days without breaks, double shifts and hours that are not properly registered. Socio-educational staff in care institutions are currently excluded from the working hours provisions in the labour code. The union argues that these workers perform difficult tasks that are often not recognized, although they are essential for the functioning of society and the quality of service to residents can suffer if
The vpod/ssp public services union is continuing to sound the alarm over urgent staff shortages in healthcare. It says that action is needed to retain staff as well as recruit new workers and that initiatives to shorten the working week can help. Reductions to weekly working hours have been introduced or are being planned in the Wetzikon and Felix Platter hospitals along with the Siloah and Lindenhof health groups. Meanwhile, vpod/ssp reports that Aargau hospitals have significantly increased their allowances for weekend and holiday shifts. The union is also continuing to press employers to
EPSU and industriAll Europe have sent a joint letter of protest to bosses at the Achema chemicals plant in Lithuania. They have called on the management to end anti-union activity and return to the negotiating table to resolve a dispute over pay and a new collective agreement. The local union, part of the LPPSF union affiliated to both EPSU and industriAll, took strike action in February – the first private sector strike in Lithuania for 30 years – but had to suspend the action when the government declared a state of emergency because of the war in Ukraine.
EPSU and industriAll Europe have sent a joint letter to the management of the AB Achema factory in Lithuania protesting at its anti-union activity and failure to resolve a dispute over pay and collective bargaining.
The VPOD public services union supported demonstrations in more than 25 towns and cities across the country on 9 April calling for action on working time. The protests focused on the potential environmental benefits of shorter working time along with the positive outcomes in terms of gender equality and workers’ rights. VPOD noted that progress on working time reduction has been limited with average working in Switzerland still closed to 42 hours a week. The union underlined the importance of improving work-life balance and the prospects of having a fairer share of domestic responsibilities if
