SWILZERLAND REFEREN DUM FOR A FORTY HOUR WEEK by KARL BRUNNER Last December 5 Swiss citizers voted on a referendum to reduce the legal workweek from forty-five hours in industry and fifty hours in construction and the hotels to forty hours for everybody. In 1973 the POCH, PSA (1), and the Ligue Marxiste Révolutionnaire (LMR - Revolutionary Marxist League, Swiss section of the Fourth International) had submitted a constitutional initiative (2) calling for the legal introduction of the forty-hour week for all categories of workers within one year after a favorable result in a popular referendum. Crisis and privilege For many years now the Swiss employers, taking advantage of the "labor peace" policy of the trade-union leaders, have succeeded in reducing the legal workweek only very slightly (and reducing the actual workweek even less, considering the widespread use of overtime) and in strongly increasing the physical productivity of labor. Thus, Swiss capitalism now enjoys the longest legal workweek in Europe - and this at a time when an attack on employment levels is being intensified. In fact, Swiss capitalism, whose motor force derives from exports (machine tools, electrical equipment, chemicals, watches, ete.), has been hard hit by the generalized recession of capitalism and by the "collapse" of the domestic market due both to the deep structural 25 crisis of the construction industry and to the "departure" (in reality the explusion under pressure of unemployment) of 200, 000 immigrant workers. A simple international comparison enables us to gauge the breadth of the capitalist recession in Switzerland. The following figures indicate the rate of decline of industrial production between 1973 and 1975, the reference point being the highest peak industrial production had attained in 1973 or 1974 and the lowest point attained in 1975 (variation in percent).
United States: 10.1 West Germany: 11.3 France: 11.9 Italy: 15.2 Belgium: 15.6 Switzerland: 18.4 Japan: 19.7 (Source: OECD, "Principaux indicateurs economiques.") The policy of the government and the National Bank, inspired by the strictest monetarist doctrine, accentuated the extent of the recession. The objective was clear: "loosen up the labor market as much as possible" in order to exert serious pressure on wages at a time when job insecurity was stimulating "labor discipline. " The result was convincing: The annual rate of inflation in December 1976 was only 1.3%; some 300,000 jobs (out of a total work force of 2, 900, 000 in 1973) were eliminated, that is, more than 10%; real wages stagnated or even declined in some industries; the productiv ity of labor grew heavily. Among the 300,000 jobs eliminated we must note the 200,000 immigrant workers "exported" to Italy and Spain. The 100, 000 others are essentially married women who were forced to quit their jobs, retirees who had continued to work, etc. In the end, the number of Swiss residents on complete unemployment attained the record figure of 32, 000. Employers and unions It was in this context that the vote on the forty-hour week took place. There was no doubt that the bourgeoisie was going to launch a catastrophic campaign in the best tradition of the arguments used over the past century to portray "the terrible effects on the national economy" of any reduction in working hours. in the framework of intensified competition on the world market, the Swiss capitalists were not inclined to give the slightest ground. The combination of stagnation of wages, growth of productivity, and long working hours permitted them to lower unit labor costs, while the revaluation of the Swiss franc relative to other currencies was reducing the competitive strength of Swiss exports. To the amazement of the observers of the big international financial newspapers, the employers and bankers did not stand against the trade unions in this battle. On the contrary, the Union Syndicale Suisse (3) stood in the forefront of opposition to the forty-hour week. But things did not run completely smoothly.
Referendum on: Initiated by: Old-Age Insurance Communist party Factory participation USS Forty-hour Week POCH, PSA, LMR A total of 370, 000 wage-earners, 22% of those voting, cast ballots in favor of the forty-hour week. It must not be forgotten that about one-fourth of the wage-earners working in Switzerland cannot vote: the immigrant workers, not to mention the young workers (among whom the demand for forty hours received a brood response, as was shown in various polls). Considering the strength of the three organizations that launched the initiative, and considering the campaign waged by the bourgeoisie in its press, rodio, and television, as well as the position of the USS, the result was not negligible. A simple comparison with the scores obtained by the most recent constitutional initiatives indicates the significant value of the result given the present sociopolitical context in Switzerland. (See above.) In addition, the 22% must not be viewed in isolation. In fact, we find that the percentage of "yes" votes was considerably higher in the cantons in which a more or less broad unity in action among the parties, organizations, and trade unions of the workers movement was established: 32.6% in the city of Basel; 42,1% in the canton of Geneva; 34.6% in the canton of Tessin; 29.8% in the canton of Neuchätel. Further, in the most heavily working class neighborhoods of the big cities, the percentage of "yes" votes exceeded 40% and often represented an absolute majority of the wage-earners. Differentiation inthe workers movement But this is not the most important feature, In taking advantage of the mechanism of semidirect democracy, three "minor" organizations of the workers movement - in unity in action on a platform corresponding to the objective needs of the working class and challenging the policy of "labor peace" - stimulated an important process of differentiation within the traditional organizations themselves. Moreover, in some cases they succeeded in establishing brood unity in action with all the components of the workers movement. First of all, during the October 1976 congress of the Swiss Socialist party, a government party since the second world war, the opposition, which was in favor of the forty hours, overturned the position of the leadership. In various cantons the sections of the SP therefore participated in the common campaign. The Parti du Travail (Labor party, the Swiss CP), which had attacked the initiative in a sectarian manner, was compelled to change its line. Second, within the USS various federations on the cantonal or federal level came out in favor of the initiative, against the official position of the USS leadership. This was the case with the typographers union, some sections of the public services union, the assembly
No. of "Yes" votes % Voter turnout in % 294,511 15.6 52.9 471, 941 32.4 39.4 370,439 22.0 44.7 of presidents of sections of the postal workers union, and others. Under this pressure the USS found itself compelled to announce the launching of an initiative for a very gradual introduction of the forty-hour week, the immediate function of which was obviously to weaken the position and audience of the initiative of the POCH-PSA-LMR. Finally, an important debate unfolded among the ranks of workers, which is not unimportant at a time when many contracts are coming up for renegotiation. In fact, this campaign actualized a demand that will now become part of many trade-union platforms of demands. Such a campaign, combined with patient work in the trode-unions and the broadest organization of solidarity with the strikes that are now developing very slowly in the French-speaking part of Switzerland (which remain isolated phenomena), represents one of the instruments with which an independent and united mobilization of the working class can be prepared. This task is now on the agenda, of a time when the bourgeoisie has launched an extensive attack against the gains the working class hos made over the past fifteen years, essentially as by-products of the exceptional economic boom, and at a time when the xenophobic movement is preparing a new offensive of its own. (A new xenophobic initiative will soon be presented for a vote.) FOOTNOTES: 1. The mechanisms of Swiss semidirect democracy allow modifications in the federal constitution to be proposed. Presented in the form of a "constitutional initiative, for which the signatures of 50,000 citizens must be collected, the proposed modification is then submitted to a vote in the form of a referendum. 2. The POCH (Swiss Progressive Organization) was created by some former members of the Communist party in German-speaking Switzerland. This organization partially claims allegiance to the Stalinist Third International. It now places itself within the orbit of the policy of the official CPs. The PSA (Parti Socialiste Autonome - Independent Socialist Party) emerged from a split from the SP in Tessin (Italian-speaking canton) and now maintains special relations with the POCH. 3. The USS is the federated organization that unites the various trode-union federations. It had 470,000 members in 1975. The FTMH (Federation of Metalworkers and Watch-making Workers), which organizes 145, 000 workers, has significant weight within it. The USS occupies the forward posts in the policy of labor peace.