Confederation of Swiss Employees' Associations

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The Confederation of Swiss Employees' Associations (German: Vereinigung Schweizerischer Angestelltenverbände, VSA; French: Fédération des Sociétés suisses d'Employés) was a national trade union federation bringing together unions representing non-manual workers in Switzerland.

History[edit]

The federation was established in 1918 by most of the country's trade unions 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 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 led the Association of Swiss Employees' Associations of the Machine Industry to resign.[1][2]

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.[1][2][3] In 2002, it merged with the Christian National Union Confederation, to form Travail.Suisse.[4]

Affiliates[edit]

Union Abbreviation Founded Left Reason not affiliated Membership (1954)[5] Membership (1997)[3]
Association of Employees of the Swiss Book Trade ASB 1883 1984 Resigned
Swiss Association of Commercial Travelers 1925 1980 1,048 N/A
Swiss Association of Insurance Inspectors and Agents SVVIA 2002 Transferred to Travail.Suisse N/A
Swiss Association of Management Consultants SVBF 1946 1969 N/A N/A
Swiss Association of Pharmaceutical Personnel 1940 2002 Transferred to Travail.Suisse 355
Swiss Association of Surveyors 1929 500
Swiss Association of Technicians STV 1905 1922 Resigned
Swiss Bank Employees' Union SBPV 1918 1943 Resigned 10,700 19,183
Swiss Commercial Association SKV 1873 2000 Resigned 55,700 63,770
Swiss Construction Management Association SBKV 1905 1990 1,593 N/A
Swiss Laboratory Staff Association SLV 1946 2002 Transferred to Travail.Suisse N/A N/A
Swiss Management Organisation SKO 1893 2002 Became independent 10,329 8,669
Swiss Musicians' Union SMV 1914 1990s Transferred to SGB 1,104
Union Helvetia UH 1886 2002 Transferred to Travail.Suisse 9,395 17,728
United Swiss Staff Associations in the Machine and Electrical Industries VSAM 1919 2002 Transferred to Travail.Suisse 7,112 18,556

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Vereinigung schweizerischer Angestelltenverbände VSA, Fédération des Sociétés suisses d'Employés". Schweizerisches Sozialarchiv. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Angestelltenorganisationen". Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  3. ^ a b Ebbinghaus, Bernhard; Visser, Jelle (2000). Trade Unions in Western Europe Since 1945. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 676–678. ISBN 0333771125.
  4. ^ "Gewerkschaften fusionieren". Suisse.info. 28 June 2002. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  5. ^ Mitchell, James P. (1955). Directory of Labor Organizations: Europe. Washington DC: United States Department of Labor. pp. 28.5–28.8.
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