Schaffhausen voters to decide who sets hospital staff terms

Voters in the canton of Schaffhausen will decide on November 29 whether the management of the cantonal hospital should gain control over staff employment conditions, SRF reports. The proposed change would move hospital employees out of the cantonal administration and give management more freedom over pay and working conditions.

More than 1,700 people work for Spitäler Schaffhausen, one of the canton’s largest employers. Most are currently public employees covered by cantonal personnel rules, which govern their wages, working hours and holidays. Hospital management says those rules limit its ability to manage its largest cost: staff.

The proposal would require hospital management to negotiate a collective labour agreement with staff associations. The agreement would set minimum wages and provide protections for employees.

The Social Democratic Party opposes the change, warning that it could worsen working conditions. It says hospital care is part of the public service and that employees should remain under cantonal employment rules to ensure democratic oversight. The other parties support the proposal, while the Green Party has left its members free to decide. The VPOD union has also come out in favour.

Hospital management says it has no interest in worsening working conditions and needs flexibility to compete with other hospitals and respond to staff shortages. It says the new rules could allow it to offer higher wages or bonuses for filling shifts, options it says are not available under the current system.

The cantonal parliament approved the law change by 43 votes to none in August. Several Social Democratic members abstained, preventing the measure from reaching the four-fifths majority needed to avoid a mandatory public vote. Schaffhausen would follow cantons including Zurich, Basel-Stadt, Bern and St. Gallen, where public hospital employees already have employment conditions set by their hospitals.

In 2025, Spitäler Schaffhausen had 1,734 employees, treated 11,911 inpatients and provided 96,072 outpatient treatments.