Association of Swiss Workers' Associations
The Association of Swiss Workers 'Associations (SAV) was an amalgamation of the local workers' associations in German-speaking Switzerland founded on the initiative of Gertrude Guillaume-Schack . The aim of the association was to represent the interests of those workers who were not represented by the trade unions . The SAV was founded in 1890 , the first president was Verena Conzett-Knecht .
The SAV mainly worked on improving the working conditions and social security of its members (e.g. in the event of illness , maternity or unemployment ). In fact, the working conditions at that time were particularly precarious in home work, retail trade and servants, i.e. in industries where many women worked: the working hours were very high and there were no protective regulations. Then there were the bad wages. Around 1900 a woman's wage was around 55% of a man's wage.
The SAV was politically very progressive. In 1893 he was the first union to demand minimum wages for women and men from the Federal Council and Parliament . In addition, there were demands for provisions to protect industrial workers and for free cooking and technical schools. The workers should be included in the unemployment insurance . The federal government demanded that sewing and knitting work on behalf of the military department should be awarded directly to the workers' associations. In addition, there were repeated calls for an improved education for girls and a general improvement in the legal position of women.
At their third meeting of delegates in 1893, the women of the SAV made political equality for women in Switzerland one of their primary goals.
For the International Workers Protection Congress, which took place in Zurich in 1894, the SAV again adopted very progressive demands: protection for women who have recently given birth for 8 weeks, a work ban for girls under the age of 15, a 9-hour day for women and a free Saturday afternoon. The Federation of Workers and Trade Unions adopted these demands and integrated them into its submission to the Federal Assembly in 1900 .
In 1902 the SAV formulated a new action program:
- Agitation among the workers;
- Promoting and monitoring workers protection laws;
- Training courses for women workers,
- Promoting the legal position of women in general;
- Improvement of the economic and political position of women workers;
- Promotion of the support system in the event of illness, old age and disability;
- Introduction of free obstetrics.
In 1904 the SAV was accepted as a member of the SGB . Following the BSF's demand for women to be able to vote in church affairs, the assembly of delegates decided to join forces with bourgeois women on this issue. In 1908 , the SAV was excluded from the SGB because it no longer wanted to tolerate special associations.
In 1917 , the delegates' assembly decided to dissolve the association. The members are collectively accepted into the Social Democratic Party and subsequently organize themselves into women's groups. From 1919 these were coordinated by the Central Women's Agitation Commission under the direction of Rosa Bloch .
See also
Swiss women's movement , Swiss labor movement
archive
literature
- Annette Frei: Red Patriarchs . Labor movement and women's emancipation in Switzerland around 1900. Chronos, Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-905278-13-8 (Dissertation University of Zurich 1986, 217 pages, illustrated, 21 cm).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jakob Tanner, History of Switzerland in the 20th Century. Beck, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-406-68365-7 , p. 45