News

UNI Global Union congratulates UNICARE affiliate UNIA on the forming of 'Together for good care work', a new national group for carers from Central Eastern Europe in Switzerland.

Read below for more information about the initiative, and check out the UNIA webpage which has information in multiple languages here.

"We are men and women from Central Eastern Europe, who have been living and working in Switzerland as carers in private care companies (Spitex) and live- in care. Many of us have been here for a long time and others have just arrived here, and some of us come and go to do this job in Switzerland. The health of our patients and clients is extremely important to us and we get a lot of enjoyment from care work. That is why we and other hundreds of our colleagues got organised in Unia as we all know that better working conditions are necessary for good care. You cannot have the one without the other. We work together with Unia, our fellow carers and colleagues, and also our clients to achieve better working conditions. That is why we decided to call this group Together for good care. We meet regularly in Lugano and in Zurich. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

What do we want?

The health of our patients and clients is of the highest importance, so we have decided to call for better working conditions such as:

• All work together with all overtime and on-call work must be paid
• Our qualifications must be recognised in Switzerland
• A 13th pay cheque and additional pay for work at nights and weekends.
• Time for language courses in German and Italian must be provided
• Travel for work must be paid

Why have we joined Unia?

Unia is the biggest and fasted growing trade union in Switzerland. It is also the biggest migrant organisation in Switzerland and provides support for its members in their mother tongue.

Together with Unia we could achieve our demands e.g., when our colleagues in a private care company in Canton Zurich went on strike and were successful in their demands for a 13th pay cheque, a better wage and paid travel time. With the help of Unia in Ticino (Italian speaking part of Switzerland), dismissed live-in carers are provided with temporary accommodation and various courses for professional development are now available for all careers. 

Unia members enjoy the following benefits:

• Information about employment and immigration law
• Legal advice and legal representation at court
• Contributions towards professional development and training
• Language courses
• And most importantly, we are not alone and we support each other through participation in meetings and gatherings with our colleagues

What do we do?

Our groups have been meeting regularly since February 2013 in Lugano and February 2014 in Zurich. Our members come from various parts of Switzerland and together with Unia aim to find better solutions to problems we experience at work. The meetings in Lugano and Zuirch were respectively organised by Alina and Anna. The group is also supported by the Unia Head Office and Adam the union secretary for Polish workers. Join us! We look forward to meeting you."