Last modified: 2024-09-14 by martin karner
Keywords: trade union |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
Trade unions in one form or the other have a long tradition in Switzerland.
Most of the organisations originally were organised along rather specific crafts
and trades, in a rather corporatist way. Over the years, many of the small
organisations have merged to give rise to larger, presumably more powerful
organisations.
Traditionally, most trade unions have clustered around
three federations:
1. the SGB/USS (Schweizerischer
Gewerkschaftsbund / Union syndicale suisse / Unione sindacale svizzera = Swiss
Federation of Trade Unions), the largest of the federations, in the
social-democratic tradition;
2. the VSA/FSE/FSI (Vereinigung
Schweizerischer Angestelltenverbände / Fédération des sociétés suisses
d'employés / Federazione delle società svizzere degli impiegati = Federation of
Swiss White-Collar Employee Unions), that catered for the more bourgeois
white-collar workers;
3. the CNG/CSC/FSSC (Christlichnationaler
Gewerkschaftsbund der Schweiz / Confédération des syndicats chrétiens de Suisse
/ Federazione svizzera dei sindacati cristiani = Federation of Christian Trade
Unions of Switzerland), a federation in the Christian-social (mainly Catholic)
tradition.
The latter two (VSA and CNG) have merged in 2002 to establish
"Travail.Suisse".
Although mergers (and some splits) have occurred over
most of the trade unions' lifetimes, particularly the last about 20 years have
seen an increased concentration process among the member organizations of the
(now two) federations.
In addition to the organizations in the two
federations, there are a large, basically uncountable number of independent
organizations, still mainly professional associations rather than trade unions.
In three of the cantons (Ticino, Graubünden and Geneva), local/cantonal
trade unions play a large role; in the remaining parts of Switzerland, the
nationwide organizations prevail.
At least the larger (and more activist)
of the trade unions do use flags, mass-produced ones for rallies as well as more
traditional banners. However, I have not found flags of the federations (SGB,
Travail.Suisse, VSA or CNG).
M. Schmöger, 12 January 2016