At the opening of the session, participants were welcomed by Council of States president Stefan Engler (The Centre, GR), and the chair of the Swiss Delegation to PACE, Council of States member Marianne Binder-Keller (The Centre, AG). National Council member Sibel Arslan (The Greens, BS), vice chair of the sub-committee, and National Council member Valérie Piller Carrard (SP, FR) moderated the three thematic panel discussions.
The European Social Charter complements the European Convention on Human Rights in the field of economic and social rights. Among other things, it protects rights in the areas of employment, health, education and social security. Switzerland signed the original Charter in 1976, but has not yet ratified it. Several attempts at ratification have failed in Parliament. In its 2014 report in response to Postulate 10.3004, the Federal Council concluded that Switzerland meets the minimum legal requirements for ratifying the revised Charter without the need for legislative amendments. Ratification remains politically controversial. Against this backdrop, the meeting provided an opportunity to discuss different viewpoints and the specific implications of possible accession.
An initial round of discussions focused on the Swiss model of social partnership. Ms Piller Carrard moderated the discussion. She began by presenting her report on European guidelines to counter social dumping and labour exploitation, on the basis of which PACE adopted
Resolution 2653 in April of this year. The focus was on the question of how worker protection can be reconciled with economic competitiveness and a flexible labour market. Representatives from the Swiss Employers’ Association, Travail.Suisse, the Swiss Trade Union Federation and the Swiss Union of Crafts and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises discussed the opportunities and concerns surrounding ratification with experts from the administration. The discussions focused in particular on the role of collective employment agreements, the involvement of the social partners in monitoring, and the enforcement of labour standards.
A second panel discussion, moderated by Ms Arslan, focused on the implementation of social rights in federal states. Ylber Zejnullahu, vice chair and Belgian member of the Governmental Committee of the European Social Charter, and Urs Janett, a member of the Uri cantonal government and head of the Swiss delegation to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, examined cooperation between the different levels of government. The discussion centred on how international obligations can be reconciled with cantonal and communal responsibilities, and which experiences from other countries are of interest to Switzerland.
In the third round of discussions, also moderated by Ms Arslan, participants addressed the potential added value of the Social Charter compared to existing social rights at national and international level. The sub-committee discussed this matter with Stefan Schlegel, director of the Swiss Human Rights Institution; Michael Windfuhr, a member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and Giuseppe Palmisano, former chair of the European Committee of Social Rights. Topics included monitoring the implementation of the Charter.
The meeting took place to mark the 65th anniversary of the Social Charter and the 30th anniversary of its revised version. In January PACE emphasised in
Resolution 2644, the importance of social rights for stable democracies and social justice, and called on national parliaments to do more to ensure their implementation.
Photos of the event can be found in the media library