Thousands of Swiss take to streets to mark May Day
A May Day rally in the centre of Basel in northwest Switzerland on May 1, 2018
Keystone
Workers and activists have been celebrating May Day in Switzerland with rallies in numerous cities urging their government to address employment issues, such as equal pay.
This content was published on
2 minutes
SDA-ATS/sb
Português
pt
Milhares de suíços tomam as ruas para marcar o 1° de maio
Around 50 rallies and events are planned across Switzerland. On Tuesday morning, 13,000 took part in a demonstration in Zurich city centre. Other major rallies were held in Basel in the morning, and in Bern and Geneva in the afternoon.
Swiss unions came together under the slogan of “Equal pay. Period”, to demand equal salaries for men and women. In 2017, women in Switzerland earned on average CHF600 ($607) less per month than their male counterparts.
To mark May Day, Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga traveled to Ennenda in canton Glarus, where she visited a chocolate factory and met employees. Meanwhile, Swiss President Alain Berset gave speech in Sion, the capital of canton Valais, at the invitation of the Federation of Valais Trade Unions.
“Unequal pay] is one of the biggest scandals in our country right now,” he told the audience.
Global event
International Workers’ Day is a public holiday in many countries. In Moscow, over 100,000 people came out on the streets to march in the traditional May Day parade. In Istanbul, police detained dozens of demonstrators during May Day events, most of them protesters who tried to march toward the city’s symbolic main square in defiance of a ban.
Elsewhere, some 340,000 people are thought to have participated in almost 500 May Day events across Germany. In Greece, thousands of people marched through Athens in at least three separate May Day demonstrations. More than 70 cities across Spain held May Day marches calling for gender equality, higher salaries and pensions. In Indonesia, 10,000 workers from various labour groups rallied near the presidential palace in Jakarta to voice their demands.
Meanwhile in Paris French riot police used water cannon and teargas against hundreds of hooded protesters after they smashed shop windows and hurled petrol bombs at the start of an annual May Day rally in the capital.
Popular Stories
More
Multinational companies
Azeri fossil-fuel cash cow brings controversy to Switzerland
Swiss price watchdog slams excessive prices for generic medicines
This content was published on
The cheapest generic medicines available in Switzerland are more than twice as expensive as in other countries, according to a study by the Swiss price watchdog.
Nature should not figure in net zero calculations: academic study
This content was published on
The natural removal of CO2 from the atmosphere by forests or oceans should not be included in the net-zero balance of climate protection measures, argue researchers.
This content was published on
None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.
This content was published on
Nestlé's new CEO Laurent Freixe, has presented plans for the future of the world's largest food company, after his first few weeks in office.
Swiss foreign minister calls on Moscow to end Ukraine war
This content was published on
It's high time Moscow ended its war against Ukraine, Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis tells the UN Security Council.
This content was published on
The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.
Study reveals food culture differences between Switzerland and neighbours
This content was published on
Three-quarters of Swiss people consider eating to be a pleasurable, social activity, a new survey reveals. Healthy eating, however, plays a much less important role, it found.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Unions seek to blacklist Swiss firms that underpay women
This content was published on
Union umbrella group Travail Suisse is calling for the introduction of a blacklist to shame Swiss companies that fail to pay women and men equally.
Trade unions call for fewer hours, more gender equality
This content was published on
The Swiss Trade Union Federation is demanding shorter work weeks, compensation for pension losses and enforcement of equal pay for men and women.
Over two million Swiss are covered by collective labour contracts
This content was published on
According to the office, 2,066,550 workers (out of a total working population of 4.7 million) are employed under the terms and conditions of 600 different collective labour agreements. Almost half of all employees work in industries or sectors offering collective labour agreements with binding regulations. The statistics refer to the situation in March 2016. +…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.