The package provides wages protection measures. The president of the Swiss union union Pierre-Yves Maillard is however very critical of the liberalization agreement of the electricity market.
The Swiss Union Union (USS) will support the agreements concluded with the European Union if the Parliament adopts the project presented by the Federal Council, said its president Pierre-Yves Maillard on Thursday. This package provides wage protection measures.
“If Parliament does not unravel what the Federal Council has done (…), we will support” the main agreement, namely the one who renews the existing bilateral agreements, and in particular the free movement of people, “said the counselor to the States (PS/VD) on the airwaves of the RTS.
The unions are however cautious: “This has already been done in the past, for example in the compromise on the LPP, an exercise where Parliament defeated what the Federal Council had proposed,” he recalls.
For Mr. Maillard, the result of the negotiation was “already a little better” than the framework agreement that Switzerland refused in 2021. “A certain number of guarantees had been given. Then the Federal Council presented fourteen measures which further strengthen the protection of wages. In this context, we have said since the beginning of the year that we could support these agreements, ”he said.
In the end, it is the assembly of USS delegates that will make a decision, once everything has been finalized in Parliament. Mr. Maillard “knows that there are quite a few elected officials, even among those who say they are favorable, who could find interesting to send us back to the NO camp. That way they would not have the responsibility of the failure ”of the file.
Against the agreement on electricity
On the other hand, the Vaud Senator is much more critical of the liberalization agreement of the electricity market. “This is the last thing to do in a country that wants to try to defend its industry and defend its energy autonomy.”
According to him, the USS will oppose this liberalization. “It is possible, since these agreements are not legally linked. It would also be wise not to treat them at the same time, ”he says.