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Berne: Signature against paternity leave filed – Switzerland

The people could vote on a two-week paternity leave. The referendum committee deposited Thursday in Bern 55,203 signatures united in favor of a popular vote. The Federal Chancellery has yet to validate them.

The suspense remains because at the start of the week, the referendums did not yet know if they had gathered enough initials. “We cannot be sure until after the Chancellery has been checked,” said National Councilor Diana Gutjahr (UDC / TG). His party launched the referendum against a project deemed too expensive, but the majority of its French sections have dissociated themselves from it.

The text adopted by the Parliament provides for granting fathers a two-week leave financed by allowances for loss of earnings. It should be taken within six months of birth, not necessarily as a whole.

The financial burden would be 230 million francs per year and would require an increase of 0.05 point in the social contributions concerned. On the average Swiss salary of 6,500 francs per month, employer and employee should pay together 3.90 francs more.

Not four weeks

If the referendum is successful, the vote cannot take place before September. It is unlikely that the people will decide later on the popular initiative requiring four weeks off.

The association of the umbrella organizations Travail.Suisse, männer.ch, Alliance F and Pro Familia Switzerland withdrew this text in favor of the two-week counter-project, provided that no referendum was successful.

Theoretically, the popular initiative will be submitted to the people if they refuse the two weeks of paternity leave. But initiators could also withdraw it before the vote. In the meantime, they invite the population to support the Parliament’s project at the polls.

The referendums were accused of having used deceptive methods and false arguments to obtain their signatures. They denied it. Newspapers reported problems, particularly at the stations of Neuchâtel, Lausanne and Friborg.

In French-speaking Switzerland, the largest number of signatures deposited comes from Vaud (5017). According to the initiators, Friborg contributed 2180 initials, more than Geneva (1439), Valais (931), Neuchâtel (508) and the Jura, which constitutes the Swiss lantern (141). The most inclined to sign were the Zurichers with 13,487 initials. (Ps / nxp)

Created: 23.01.2020, 17h51

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