- SBB’s debts currently amount to CHF 11 billion. The railway company therefore wants to save on wage costs and cut back on wage deductions, as she informed her employees in an internal letter.
- The SBB started negotiations with the social partners on Friday. The planned measures are “unacceptable” for the unions.
- Before Labor Day on May 1st, Transport Minister Simonetta Sommaruga met SBB shunting workers in Bern.
The SBB has to save. In the financially “extremely tense situation”, the SBB would therefore like to start with the wage deductions, “where it has previously participated more than average”, as it writes in an information to the employees and which is available to the Keystone-SDA agency.
The unions had previously sent a communication on the planned measures. They described the austerity measures as “unacceptable”. This reduces the purchasing power of all employees and weakens the protection of those over 50. The employees had to pay for past management mistakes and pay for the consequences of the Covid crisis, even though they were constantly at work, according to the statement from the four HR organizations at SBB.
According to a spokesman, the SBB informed the employees on Friday about the intentions. 44 percent of SBB costs are wages and social security benefits. “We have to think about what savings are possible here,” SBB boss Vincent Ducrot is quoted as saying in the information.
The financial situation of the SBB is tense. The company therefore wants to save around six billion Swiss francs from its own resources in order to secure the financing for the long term until 2030. In addition, the federal government expects further savings of around CHF 80 million per year from 2024 through lower costs or higher income.
Switzerland stands still without shunting workers
On the occasion of Labor Day on May 1st, Federal Councilor Simonetta Sommaruga met SBB shunting workers at Bern train station on Friday. The visit dealt with the working conditions and the automation in the railway sector, which belongs to your DETEC transport department. Federal Councilor Sommaruga chose SBB shunting personnel because “without them, Switzerland would literally stand still” and her hard work is often forgotten, DETEC wrote in a statement.
With the introduction of the so-called digital automatic coupling, the shunting profession is facing major changes. This automation relieves the physical strain on the staff and will mean that more goods can be transported by rail in the future.