For more than a hundred years, industrialists and entrepreneurs have always been at the helm of the Swiss Employers’ Association. With Severin Moser, a manager from the insurance industry has now been elected president of the association for the first time.
A number of challenges await the new president – the shortage of skilled workers, for example, or the tense relationship with the social partners, for example in European politics, or the reform of occupational pensions.
Commitment as a team player
As a decathlete, Severin Moser took part in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. And sport is still an important part of his life today, as a recreational athlete and as the father of the most successful Swiss pole vaulter, Angelica Moser.
And so Moser responds to the question about his goals as the new employer president with a comparison from sport: “We have to make sure that we as Switzerland are on the podium when it comes to the competitiveness of our economy,” says Moser. “I will therefore work to ensure that we set the bar high and set ambitious goals. But I am well aware that you cannot do this alone, but only in cooperation with others. And I’ll try to do my part.”
I will be president of all branches and of all our members.
As the first employer president, Severin Moser comes from the insurance sector and not from industry. But he promises: “I will be president of all sectors and of all our members and will not put on service provider glasses. So I think it’s a bit of a coincidence, but of course the composition of the Swiss economy reflects the fact that there are more service providers than in the past.”
In fact, today the service sector, from the financial center to education and care, is the largest Swiss employer – far ahead of industry. Historically, however, it was precisely the entrepreneurs and trade unions from industry who founded and developed the Swiss social partnership.
No experience in CLA negotiations
The insurance industry, on the other hand, with its 50,000 employees, is one of the last large sectors without a collective labor agreement. “It’s true, I haven’t gained any experience in negotiating collective labor agreements myself,” says Moser.
We in the umbrella organization are more responsible for the issues that are then of a political nature.
«In our case, collective labor agreements are negotiated in the individual sectors. This is not a task for the umbrella organization, but for the individual sectors. We in the umbrella organization are more responsible for the issues that are then of a political nature.”
With these political issues in particular, however, the house blessing is currently hanging crookedly between the trade unions and the employers. Differing views, for example in European politics or in the reform of occupational pensions, are currently putting a heavy strain on the social partnership. Perhaps a new employer president can ease things up a bit.