In collaboration with the Swiss union Unia, Switzerland’s Young Socialists have launched a protest against the exploitation of interns. To get on the career ladder, many young people feel compelled to take internships offering little or no pay. The Young Socialists are demanding interns be better paid. Recent data from the Federal Statistical Office shows […]
42 suspected extremists in Swiss army
A recent reported published by Switzerland’s Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS), reveals that 42 extremism investigations were requested in 2017. In 2016, there were 50. Switzerland has a system of compulsory military service for all Swiss men who pass a physical and psychological aptitude test. Those who miss the mark on […]
Facebook refused 70% of Swiss government requests for information
From 2013 to mid 2017, Switzerland’s authorities sent 361 data requests to Facebook, most related to suspected terrorist activity. The social network refused to provide information for 253 (70%) of these requests, according to the newspaper SonntagsZeitung. Part of the problem is legal differences between the US and Switzerland. Lulzana Musliu, a spokesperson for the […]
Poverty in Switzerland – most don’t stay poor for long
In 2016, 7.5% of Switzerland’s population survived on a income below the poverty line, defined as CHF 3,981 a month for a couple with two young children, CHF 3,039 for a couple without children and CHF 2,247 for a single person. Among the 615,000 people encountering poverty in Switzerland in 2016, 140,000 were working. Over […]
Raising Switzerland’s retirement age – like death and taxes
Last week, State Councillor Peter Hegglin (PDC/CVP) withdrew his motion demanding Switzerland’s retirement age automatically rise with life expectancy. He argues that Switzerland urgently needs to find a way to ensure the financial health of its pension system and raising the retirement age is the main way to do this. Across most of the OECD […]
Women in government – should gender equality be added to Switzerland’s constitution?
Should Switzerland’s constitution demand gender equality in government? This is the question being considered in Bern. Currently, the constitution only demands an equitable representation of Switzerland’s regions and linguistic groups. This text has a long history and is focused on ensuring cohesion across Switzerland’s diverse regional and linguistic patchwork. Gender has no regional dimension. In […]
Swiss parliamentarians refuse to give up free first class travel
Several years ago Switzerland made international news for its leaders’ use of public transport, something aided by the free first class train passes given to Swiss members of parliament. Last week, Swiss parliamentarians voted to keep their first class train passes, with 154 votes in favour and 28 against. Despite being a vote akin to […]
Switzerland votes this weekend on federal tax and broadcasting fee
On Sunday 4 March 2018, Swiss voters will vote on two federal initiatives. New financial regime 2021 Switzerland’s federal government must periodically seek voter approval to collect taxes. If Sunday’s vote is successful, a constitutional amendment will be made extending the government’s right to tax Swiss residents. Swiss vote results – 4 March 2018 (Le […]
Vaud – vote on divisive dental tax and care plan
On 4 March 2018, voters in Vaud will vote on a plan to provide basic universal dental care funded by a tax on salaries. The initiative entitled: Reimbursement of dental care, Pour le remboursement des soins dentaires in French, claims that 10% of the population avoid the dentist because of the cost. They also claim links […]
Switzerland’s most unhappy political parties unhappy for the same reason
Overall little changed in a year. 36% of the more than 22,000 surveyed in a poll recently published by Vimentis, said they were either satisfied or fairly satisfied with Swiss politics. On the flip side, 45% were dissatisfied or fairly dissatisfied and 19% were non-comital. The year before, 36% said they were either satisfied or […]
