The Confederation of Swiss Employees' Associations (german: Vereinigung Schweizerischer Angestelltenverbände, VSA; french: Fédération des Sociétés suisses d'Employés) was a

national trade union federation A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ...

bringing together unions representing non-manual workers in Switzerland.

History

The federation was established in 1918 by most of the country's

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s for non-manual workers. These included the Swiss Craftsmen's Association, the Union Helvetia, and the Swiss Association of Technicians, but more than half the membership came from the

Swiss Commercial Association The Swiss Commercial Association (german: Kaufmännischer Verband Schweiz, KV Schweiz; french: Société suisse des employés de commerce) is a trade union representing white collar private sector workers in Switzerland. The union was founded in ...

. The new federation remained riven with disputes, with many of the smaller affiliates wanting to merge into a single union, but the large affiliates preferring to retain their independence. The Technicians resigned in 1922, and in 1935 a dispute over co-operation between the VSA and the

Swiss Trade Union Federation The Swiss Trade Union Federation (, SGB; ; , USS) is the largest national trade union center in Switzerland. History The federation was founded in 1880 and represents 361,000 members in its affiliated unions (2015). The SGB has close ties with ...

led the Association of Swiss Employees' Associations of the Machine Industry to resign. Despite the disputes, membership of the federation trended up, from 60,000 in 1940, to peak at 148,734 in 1985. In the 1960s, it began admitting unions representing any workers. However, from the late-1980s, it began losing members, and was down to 120,950 in seven unions by 1997. In 2000, the Swiss Commercial Association resigned, leaving the VSA much weakened. In 2002, it merged with the

Christian National Union Confederation The Christian National Union Confederation (german: Christlichnationaler Gewerkschaftsbund der Schweiz, CNG; french: Confédération des syndicats chrétiens de Suisse) was a trade union federation bringing together Christian democratic trade union ...

, to form

Travail.Suisse Travail.Suisse is a trade union federation in Switzerland. History The federation was formed in December 2002 by the merger of the Christian National Union Confederation (CNG) and the Confederation of Swiss Employees' Associations (VSA). Through ...

Affiliates

References

{{Authority control Trade unions in Switzerland Trade unions established in 1918 Trade unions disestablished in 2002