Daniel Lampart to leave Swiss union federation after 20 years

Daniel Lampart, chief economist of the Swiss Trade Union Federation, will step down after 20 years in the role, SRF reports. Lampart, who also heads the federation’s secretariat, is credited with the idea for a 13th payment from the state pension system.

Lampart said the initiative did not include a plan for financing the extra pension because its impact on the system was uncertain when it was launched in 2018. He said that, given the pension system’s redistributive effects, funding the payment through value-added tax would still be fair.

He described the 13th pension payment as a success at a time when occupational pension payments are falling and living costs are rising. By contrast, a 2014 union initiative to set a minimum wage of 4,000 francs a month was rejected by 76 percent of voters. Lampart said the campaign had nevertheless helped make low wages more visible in statistics and contributed to an increase in them.

The federation has lost more than 60,000 members over the past 20 years. Lampart said he felt responsible for the decline, while noting that other collective organisations, including churches and sports clubs, were also losing members. He argued that strong unions were needed to prevent inequality from growing and said workers had to get involved themselves.

Lampart defended the federation’s opposition to concessions on worker protections in discussions over Switzerland’s bilateral agreements with the European Union. He said the unions had a responsibility to reject free movement if wage protections were not guaranteed.

His last day will be at the federation’s congress at the end of November. Apprenticeships will be an important topic, and Lampart said apprentices need more holiday time. Outside his union work, he plays double bass, which he described as the orchestra’s foundation: an instrument that is rarely heard but immediately missed when absent.

The interview was conducted by Karoline Arn.