Recording of working hours: charges against Zehnder Group
Syndicom and Impressum have filed a complaint against the Zehnder Media Group for failing to keep records of working hours. The group publishes a total of 23 free weekly newspapers in 17 regions across the country, primarily in eastern Switzerland.
The ads will be filed in the cantons where the free sheets are published, as the Syndicom union and the journalists' association Imprint announced on Monday. They want to draw the attention of the labor inspectorates to the overwork and speed pressure in the editorial offices. Zehnder Media Group did not comment on the ads on Monday. These are part of the action series "Jetzt schlägts 13" by Syndicom and Impressum. Since the beginning of the year, the following media companies have already been reported for not recording working hours and suspected of disregarding the health protection of journalists Tamedia, Ringier and NZZ.
According to the associations, they have tried several times to find collective solutions with the industry. For ten years, there has been no collective labor agreement in German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino, they write. That is why journalists need the full protection of the labor law. This prescribes the recording of working hours.
The lack of a CLA was also a topic at the publishers' congress last September. The publishers see no reason for the contract because of the persistently hardened fronts. However, the association was ready for talks on working time recording, said Hanspeter Lebrument, President of the Association of Swiss Media. (SDA)
