More than 700 bricklayers rallied in Sion on Saturday
Keystone-SDA
More than 700 construction workers took to the streets of Sion, in canton Valais, on Saturday, answering a call from the Valais Trade Union. The protest was sparked by a deadlock in negotiations over the national collective labour agreement for Switzerland’s main building sector.
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The demonstrators voiced concern over deteriorating working conditions and announced plans to strike on November 3 and 4. In a symbolic gesture, they raised the “matze” (a traditional wooden effigy) in protest against the Swiss Contractors’ Association (SSE).
The collective agreement that sets out working conditions for around 80,000 construction workers across Switzerland is due to expire at the end of the year, the Unia union warned in a statement on Saturday. Without a new deal in place, the sector could face a gap in collective bargaining for the first time in over a decade.
Trade unions have criticised the SSE for pushing to extend the working week to 50 hours, make on-call shifts standard practice, reduce holiday entitlement for workers over 55, and reduce real wages.
Unions say there’s an urgent need to better recognise the tough, physically demanding nature of construction work – a sector they argue is vital to the Swiss economy but one that many bricklayers are leaving due to the strain.
Translated from French with DeepL/sp
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