The unpaid bills are piled up on Marko Lukic’s * (38) table. 200,000 francs are open. A huge sum for a plastering company. Threatening existence. After a year of pandemic, the coffers are empty.
Lukic faces bankruptcy. He is angry, sometimes at a loss. Business was doing well before the pandemic. “15 people worked for me,” he says. Lukic once had jobs at prestige addresses in the greater Zurich area, now he asks for anonymity. Only six employees work for him, more than half are on short-time work. Sales have fallen by over 60 percent.
Many companies in Switzerland feel the same way. Some receive compensation from the state. Lukic doesn’t. His application for hardship assistance was thrown out with a single sentence. Without further inquiries, without the opportunity to comment. The decline in sales is not related to the measures ordered by the authorities, according to the ruling that Blick has.
Uncertainty among customers
“That’s not right,” says Daniel Gisin when asked. He is Lukic’s trustee. Gisin knows the number structure and the financial need of the craftsman. “The company was hit hard by the second wave,” he says. “Many orders were canceled at short notice, only a few new ones came in.”
Big and small customers would have waited to see how the situation developed, said Gisin. “Nobody knew whether a lockdown was coming, what it would look like, how long it would last, what that meant for finances and whether there would be anything left at the end of the lockdown.” Lukic felt this reluctance right in his wallet.
In addition to the uncertainty among customers, there were delays in ongoing projects. There was a lack of material on the construction sites. New security measures and pandemic regulations paralyzed operations. Plasterer Lukic had to wait again. It only comes into play when the foundation has been poured, the wall has been raised, the cables distributed and the lift installed.
Flood of appeals from the canton
All in all, it was a poison cocktail. A possibly ruinous mix. “If all the creditors came, he wouldn’t be able to pay it,” says Gisin. It pisses him off how the canton behaves in the crisis. He finds it impossible that the appeal against the decision of the Zurich Finance Directorate has been open for months. “Do the companies now have to suffer because the authorities cannot cope with the objections?” He asks.
In fact, the canton is flooded with objections. Around 800 appeals are currently open, as a spokesman for the State Chancellery announced on Blick request. 1200 came in in total. Only a third has been done so far.
In plain language: Hundreds of small businesses are waiting for a decision. They are waiting for money. Lukic is one of them. He asked for more than 380,000 francs hardship aid. That’s how big the minus in the books is, accumulated over months.
High fixed costs
The money for short-time work was nowhere. It only covered the employees’ wages. Lukic was left with all the other costs: rent, leasing, social security, bookkeeping, other things.
The plasterer coped with the first wave of corona relatively well. The help at the time: unbureaucratic and quick. But the second wave brought him to the brink of ruin. Trustee Gisin is now on the phone with various creditors. He asks for a respite. “I’ve also had people from VAT and AHV on the phone,” he says. «They say: ‘That is not our problem.’»
That is doubly bitter for the plasterer. The pandemic and government restrictions caused the bear market first. Then the public sector refuses support, takes its time with appeals and finally demands money without hesitation, without understanding, without goodwill. Lukic doesn’t know what to do next.