Trade unions in Switzerland have their origins in the 19th Century when the country began to industrialise. Workers' associations first formed in the 1860s which assumed union functions, mutual insurance activities, sponsored candidates for election and campaigned in

referendums A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

. In 1873 a number of the associations in the German-speaking areas formed the Workers' Federation (), which represented around 5,000 by the late 1870s and campaigned for legislative reform. In 1880, the Workers' Federation dissolved itself into two separate wings; 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 ...

(SGB/USS) and the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

. For the most of the latter half of the 20th century, trade unions enjoyed relatively stable and secure positions within the country's consensus-oriented industrial relations system. However, following the recession of the early 1990s, trade unions came under increasing pressure from employers and the government which promoted the deregulation of labour markets, less binding collective bargaining and weaker

wage growth Wage growth (or real wage growth) is a rise of wage adjusted for inflations, often expressed in percentage. In macroeconomics, wage growth is one of the main indications to measure economic growth for a long-term since it reflects the consumer' ...

. At present, there are two national trade union centres; the

(SGB/USS) with approximately 385,000 members and

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 ...

with approximately 170,000 members. The former is associated with

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

political currents in Switzerland, the latter somewhat associated with Christian Democratic currents.

References

{{Authority control Economy of Switzerland