Economiesuisse proposal
Will we soon have to work nights due to the energy crisis?
The trade association Economiesuisse wants to prevent the looming energy crisis. And suggests a distribution of working hours throughout the day.
At work at eight in the morning. First a coffee while the computer starts up. However, so that the electricity that the computer consumes does not become too expensive, the working day should perhaps begin at eight in the evening.
Due to the Ukraine crisis, all of Europe is worried regarding its gas supply and rising electricity prices. The umbrella organization Economiesuisse therefore proposes making labor law more flexible in order to save electricity.
Employees should work distributed
“In terms of security of supply, it makes sense that companies can spread their energy consumption more evenly over the day and week in order to avoid peak loads and, in the worst case, business closures,” says Lukas Federer from Economiesuisse «Daily Gazette».
Employees should therefore work spread out as far as possible, possibly at night or at the weekend when electricity is also cheaper. Economiesuisse’s proposal would not save energy, but it would prevent the energy system from being overloaded.
Companies want to settle it among themselves
According to Federer, similar solutions have already proven themselves during the corona pandemic, for example in logistics. In addition to the flexible working arrangements, the federal government’s awareness-raising plan is to be implemented quickly, and in the event of any quotas on gas consumption, the companies are to determine consumption among themselves in defined pools.
Economiesuisse’s proposal does not cause a storm of enthusiasm among employees. “We see this proposal as an attempt to push through the long-standing political goal of liberalizing working hours with the encouragement of an impending crisis,” says Pierre Derivaz from Employees Switzerland to Blick.
Neither the benefit nor the need for the proposal has been proven. It would be better to save energy and not smooth energy consumption peaks. “We also see enormous potential for abuse, it represents a major victim of the workforce and we reject the proposal in principle,” says Derivaz to the “Tages-Anzeiger”. There should only be exceptions in urgent cases. (lui)
