Initiative

“Dialogue on equal pay”; “Equal Salary”;

Summary of the initiative

Travail.Suisse is a trade union confederation founded in 2003 that regroups 11 federations in Switzerland. It represents approximately 150,000 active members in both the private as well as in the public sector.

The confederation has undertaken various initiatives to promote equality between men and women, in particular to address the gender pay gap.

It was one of the partners of the national-wide project “Dialogue sur l’égalité des salaires” (“Dialogue on equal pay”) launched and supported by social partners, with the help of the Confederation. The project started in 2009 and ended in 2014. The aim was to put into reality the principle contained in the Swiss constitution “Equal pay for equal work or work of equal value”. HR management together with trade unions would jointly analyse if the equal pay principle was respected within the company in four steps: 1) preparatory work (collecting data and information, negotiating a joint agreement, formally adhering to the project principle) ; 2) Wage analysis; 3) planning of measures if wage gap is identified; 4) Final report. The parties had four years to find successful ways to eradicate the pay gap.

Travail.Suisse also supports the “Equal Salary” Label, a certification of equal compensation for women and men created in 2005. The Label is managed by a Foundation with the same name which operates in collaboration with the Geneva University Employment Observatory an institution specialized in labour market issues. To date, 20 certification processes have been undertaken.

Travail.Suisse also works on the issue of work-life balance. A report “Retour à la vie active” (“Coming back to active life”) has been published. The challenges to employees (mainly women) who have been absent for long time from the labour market are analyzed and recommendations provided. The union also supports the platform “mamagenda.ch” (www.mamagenda.ch), on on-line application where women together with their superior can organize the pregnancy and the maternal leave, in order to facilitate the return at the workplace.

Travail.Suisse is member of the umbrella organization “Pro Familia Suisse”, who created the homepage “Work and Family”. On the website www.jobetfamille.ch employees can evaluate their employer on some family related topics. The other way around, people can search for family friendly enterprises by choosing criteria or by giving precise name.

In Switzerland the Federal Office for Gender Equality has supported the “Equal Salary” Label, a certification of equal compensation for women and men created in 2005. The Label is managed by a Foundation with the same name which operates in collaboration with the Geneva University Employment Observatory an institution specialized in labour market issues. To date, 20 certification processes have been undertaken.