Swiss Commercial Association
The Commercial Association (until 2014 KV Switzerland, until 2001 Swiss Commercial Association , SKV) is the largest Swiss professional organization for employees in offices and sales as well as related professions. At the national level, the commercial association represents the interests of 48,000 members. It is represented in all three language regions and in all parts of Switzerland and is active in 29 sections.
Many of its sections maintain schools in the larger towns in Switzerland. The association is the sponsor and co-sponsor of various professional and higher technical examinations . The schools belong directly to the association: SIB Swiss Institute for Business Administration and HWZ Zurich School of Economics (60%). The association offers 120 advanced training courses per year. He sees himself as a thought leader who sets standards for learners, employees and employers. It is a party to collective bargaining agreements and is committed to the compatibility of family and work as well as equal opportunities for women and men at work. The association is the owner of SKV Immobilien AG.
organization
The supreme body of the association is the assembly of delegates. This meets once a year. The central board is responsible for the strategy. The management works in the central office in Zurich. The association also has a branch in Neuchâtel . The cooperation between the central secretariat, regions and sections is determined by the overall operational management. The central president is Daniel Jositsch .
The association is religiously neutral, not affiliated with any political party and has a federal structure (sections).
Association goals
According to its own statements, the association stands for Smart Economy , a future-oriented, reality-based, intelligent economy that is based on people. It promotes the professional development of its members through information and further training. He represents interests in professional policy and is involved in training and further education ( dual training ) for commercial and business management professions. The association also represents the interests of its members as employees. According to his own statements, he is committed to a modern and fair working environment on the basis of a real social partnership, to the creation and safeguarding of jobs and thus makes a contribution to a competitive economy. The addressees include not only employees, but also employers. To achieve these goals, the association asserts its political influence and cooperates with other associations and groups in a relevant manner.
history
On March 7, 1861, the predecessor organization, the Association of Young Merchants , was founded in Zurich by the chairman of the board, Stefan Keusch, as the first section of the later umbrella organization. Under the motto "Education, Progress, Friendship", the association should serve to perfect the knowledge necessary for the businessman. As early as 1838, workers had founded the Swiss Grütliverein in Geneva as a patriotic-democratic workers' education association. In the 1870s, further associations of young merchants were formed, which merged in 1873 as the central association. Female members were admitted from 1918. In 1918 the association was involved in founding the Association of Swiss Employees' Associations. In doing so, he marked a distance from the radicalizing labor movement and the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions. The crisis years led to an alliance with the trade unions within the framework of the crisis initiative 1934.
In order to help the employees who became unemployed due to the effects of the American Civil War 1861–1865 and the economic crisis, a temporary employment agency was set up in Zurich. In 1868, a handwritten “club sheet” was first published in the club's office and four years later the first printed number of the club's body, Der Progress, appeared .
In 1896 the Zentralverein took over the publishing rights and brought out the Schweizerische Kaufmännische Zentralblatt . As part of the associations, a number of clubs and sections were created, namely the Dramatic Club, the Chess Club, the Singing Section, the Goods Section, the Cercle français, the English Club, the Circolo italiano and the gymnastics section. In 1883 the Zurich Commercial Association took over the management of the official sales office of the first Swiss National Exhibition in Zurich. The basis for the later acquisition of the first own club house on Pelikanplatz in Zurich could be formed from the net profit. The first voluntary apprenticeship examination took place in Zurich in 1895 and in 1906 the final apprenticeship examination became compulsory with the cantonal apprenticeship law.
The entry into professional politics was the revision of the cantonal law regarding the police on public rest days . There, the Zurich Commercial Association demanded that office and shop work be banned on Sundays. His suggestions were taken into account in drafting the 1907 Public Rest Days Act .
Since 1909 the association has been holding the certified accountant examination . This received state recognition in 1934 with the new Swiss Vocational Training Act . Today, the commercial association, together with VEB Switzerland, is responsible for this test.
The number of members reached its peak in the 1970s with over 80,000 members. Since then there has been a decline in membership.
The SKV publishing house was founded in 1925 . He publishes and sells textbooks for basic and advanced training as well as guides in the commercial and business administration area.
In 1991 the association joined the Association of Swiss Employees' Associations of the European Trade Union Confederation , part of the supranational trade union movement.
At the beginning of 2015, the association carried out a rebranding. Since then, it has presented itself as a competence center for education and work in the commercial and business environment as well as a thought leader who sets standards for learners, employees and employers.
Awards
The association awards the Prix Egalité every three years for special services to the equality of women and men in the world of work .
See also
literature
- Festschrift for the 125th anniversary of the Zurich Commercial Association (KVZ) 1861–1986 , Zurich 1986.
Web links
- Official website
- Sections of the Commercial Association
- Dictionary of social policy: Swiss Commercial Association (SKV)
- Mario König : Swiss Commercial Association. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kaufmännischer Verband Schweiz ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Internet excerpt, Commercial Register of the Canton of Zurich, accessed on May 13, 2012.
- ↑ About us ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website of the Commercial Association, accessed on May 31, 2012.
- ↑ Daniel Jositsch is the new President of KV Switzerland. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from November 9, 2011.
