Better off with syndicom – in the Employee Committee
Employee Committee (PeKo) elections at Swiss Post
PeKo elections will be held at Swiss Post between the beginning of August and early November 2023. Based on the company collective agreements (CLAs), PeKos play an important role in enforcing CLAs within the Group’s individual companies and operations. syndicom closely supports any shop stewards involved in PeKos. Together, we ensure strong trade union activities and that employees’ interests are asserted at Swiss Post.
PeKo members are elected by the employees of a specific location for a term of four years. They represent the interests of their colleagues on site. To this end, they take up your concerns and advocate for them with your employer on your behalf. Together with the syndicom trade union, the PeKo ensures that your collective labour agreement is correctly implemented – and is also committed to improving it.
The Participation Act provides the basis for the right to form an employee committee. At locations with 50 or more members, employees have the right to form a PeKo and be involved in management decisions.
In addition to the Participation Act, Swiss Post’s umbrella CLA – as well as the CLAs of its individual companies – contain binding provisions regarding PeKos. With the agreement of the employer and as an extension of the Participation Act, Swiss Post also has the option of forming PeKos at sites with fewer than 50 employees. Unfortunately, employee committees do not yet exist at all Swiss Post locations. The collective agreements also stipulate that PeKo members may spend 10% of their working time (for a full-time position) on PeKo work. The detailed tasks, rights and duties of the respective employee committee are then laid down in what are known as PeKo Regulations.
The details of PeKo elections are regulated in Swiss Post’s “Functional Instructions for Employee Committees.” These state that all individuals, including apprentices, employed by Swiss Post are entitled to vote in the PeKo elections at their location.* Unlike in political elections, you do not have to hold Swiss citizenship to vote. All persons who are 18 years old, have been employed by Swiss Post for more than six months and are in an employment relationship that has not been terminated may stand for election.
* excluding interns, employees with a fixed-term employment contract of less than 6 months, and temporary employees.
