Switzerland
Over 300 health workers took to the streets of Fribourg in a campaign to secure an increase in shift premia for night work. The SSP public service union wants to see hospitals honour the minimum legal requirements of a 10% addition for night work and full compensation for on-call duties but also is claiming a 20% allowance for night work in line with practice in most other cantons (regions).
Read more at > SSP (FR)
The STAL local government union is planning a series of actions and events from 25 April to 1 May to highlight its key demands on improvements to pay and conditions. The unions says that local and regional government workers have seen their wages frozen and their careers undermined over the past 13 years and now they see their purchasing power radically reduced in recent months. Inflation in March hit 5.3%, contrasting with the 0.9% wage increase proposed by the government for this year. STAL is calling for a €90 increase for all workers and increase in the national minimum wage to €850. It
The FP CGIL public service federation is calling prison workers, along with those working in the juvenile justice system and legal archives, to demonstrate on 24 April. The union argues that the government has a contradictory justice policy that will not work because it fails to address the inadequate levels of staffing in the three services. FP CGIL also points out that a recent decree will make matters worse by requiring cuts of 10%. Read more at > FP CGIL (IT)
Hundreds of hospital workers in Fribourg in western Switzerland took strike and protest action on 22 May to defend their pay and conditions. The workers, members of the vpod/SSP public services union were concerned that plans to remove health workers in the region from coverage by the law on state employees would lead to a deterioration in their pay and conditions. The following day the region's Grand Council announced that it wouldn't be taken the proposal any further, marking a significant success for the union and this unprecedented action by health workers in the region.
