Member Mail 12/2011

Development Zurich Airport
LTSW in Difficulties
Pay Talks
Union Work – for Members
Political Course 2012 
New Year’s Apéro 

Dear Member 
While days are getting shorter and Christmas candles are lit, union activities are still very hard work. 

Development Zurich Airport
Late in November those entitled to vote in the canton of Zurich decided on the future of the airport. Both bills aiming at restricting the possibilities of a further airport development didn’t find a majority. SEV-GATA had addressed its members in the canton of Zurich asking them to reject both bills. Now it’s a matter of continuing to improve the quality of our future working conditions. 

LTSW in Difficulties
Contrary to the management’s forecast Lufthansa Technics Switzerland has not been able to recover economically this year. Although the cooperation with Swiss could be guaranteed, the highly rated Swiss Franc made a big hole in the budget. Staff had to be dismissed again. So far there are no indications, whether LTSW will make the turnaround or not in the end. The management holds onto its previous strategy. There should be some good news pretty soon. The employees have been suffering enormously over the last years. 

Pay talks
Together with the other contract partners SEV-GATA has submitted the wage claims this year.
LTSW asked to understand that in view of the present crisis pay talks had to be set out. On our autumn meeting we dicussed the situation with our members. LTSW clearly said that they’d rather talk about pay cuts than pay rises. Without any prospects of success, the members not being prepared to resist and in respect of the colleagues who just lost their jobs no pay talks will be held with LTSW this year.
With Swiss, whose results are far above the industry average, wage talks will start in a few days.

Union Work – for Members 
The SEV has been representing some hundreds of members legally last year and has taken over approved lawyer’s fees amounting to more than CHF 330'000.  Also several union members in aviation have been able to benefit from this service over the past months. We have been able, for instance, to successfully bring an action for unfair dismissal, enforce the correction of incomplete references and to accompany difficult talks. Of course these services and the control of salary- and time accounts are available for members only.   

Political Course 2012
A few weeks ago the new Swiss Parliament was elected. The SEV made it perfectly clear which parties would go in for a fair social policy guaranteeing the benefits of unemployment- and disability insurances and old-age pensions. In an economically extremely difficult situation it’s a matter of defending the working conditions and improving them significantly above all in air traffic. 
Personally I’m very pleased to announce that I was elected as a unionist to the National Council (to the national parliament) late in October 2011. The general framework including the infrastructure for all sectors of public transport by water, on rails and in the air need to be improved as “service publique”. Also the employees’ and the trade unions’ rights should reach the European level at long last. 
Due to the political mandate I’ll have to reduce my work quota in the SEV, however, I’ll continue fighting for air traffic to the same extent as before. 

New Year’s Apéro
In Basle all members and all those interested are invited to our traditional new Years’ Apéro, Tuesday, 10 January 2012, beginning 16.00 h. We are looking forward to exchanging ideas with you personally.

With committed regards 
SEV-GATA, your union of the aviation industry
Philipp Hadorn, president
 
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