Equal rights – secured together!
FINTAQ (female, intersex, non-binary, trans, agender and queer) individuals continue to face discrimination – in the workplace, in retirement planning, and in balancing work and family life. That’s why we are working together: for better wages, fair working hours and respect in the workplace.
Equality isn’t an event – it’s an ongoing commitment.
Equality doesn’t just happen on its own. We’re working towards it all year round: on March 8, June 14, and every single day.
But to create real change, we need visible signs. Join us and fight for equality!
June 14 in Zurich
syndicom stand
at the feminist strike in Zurich, Kasernenareal
A map showing all the events on June 14 will be available here shortly: www.14juni.ch/aktionen2026
Care work:
Invisible, unpaid, indispensable
Care work keeps our society running.
But it is unequally distributed and often invisible.
This has concrete consequences for everyday life, work, and income.
What is care work?
Care work encompasses all activities involved with looking after and caring for people and sorting out their daily lives. This includes physical, emotional, and organizational tasks
It can be paid or unpaid.
Paid care work:
- Care, support, childcare, social work, education
- Part of the public service and public infrastructure
Unpaid care work:
- Childcare
- Caring for relatives
- Household and daily organization
Paid employment would not function without unpaid care work
Figures and the reality
- 12.2 billion hours of unpaid work per year
- Around two thirds performed by women
- Total value: 450 billion Swiss francs
In 2024, approximately 8.1 billion hours of paid work were performed.
Unpaid care work significantly exceeds paid work.
Why does this affect us all?
syndicom does not represent traditional care professions. Nevertheless, the issue affects all our members.
Because our members also perform care work – before or after work, on weekends or alongside paid employment.
Care work is the foundation of all paid employment.
Examples
Different jobs – equally dependent on care work.
Consequences
- Part-time work trap and lower income
- Unequal distribution of work
- Higher risk of poverty in old age
- Multiple stresses and time pressure
Women and FINTA* individuals are particularly affected.
Care work is a political issue
Care work is not simply a private matter.
How it is distributed depends on basic conditions:
- Working hours
- Wages
- Support
- Public services
When cuts are made in public services:
- Families have to take on more responsibilities
- Unpaid work increases
- Pressure on employees increases
- Unpaid care work increases.
What can we do?
Talk about care work
Talk to your colleagues about your responsibilities, difficulties, or time conflicts. Share your experiences and exchange ideas. Far more people are going through the same thing than you might think.
Set boundaries
Do not accept meetings early in the morning or late at night, even if they’re online. Do not work during your free time and do not try to do care work “alongside” paid work. Consciously schedule your care obligations into your calendar. This is legitimate and makes unpaid work visible.
Exercise your rights
Find out what your employment contract or collective labor agreement states and assert your rights. You are entitled to days off to care for relatives or sick children. If flexible working hours are provided for, you must actually use them.
Be involved with defining your working conditions
Play a part. Issues such as childcare, days off, flexible working hours, or parental leave can be regulated, for example, in collective bargaining agreements. You can help shape your working conditions.
Get organized
Talk to your colleagues about shared challenges. Together, you can develop and implement solutions. Care work is not an individual problem, it is a structural one.
Care work is not an individual problem.
What’s the next step?
We are committed to making care work visible and distributed in a fairer way.
The feminist strike is part of this commitment.
Join us in the fight for equality!
Our demands
Wages!
- Equal pay for equal work
- Wage transparency and control rights for unions and staff committees
- Collective labor agreements in all sectors
- Higher pensions instead of pension cuts, for part-time employees as well
Time!
- Right to a temporary reduction in working hours with the right to return
- Extended parental leave
- Company-provided childcare or financial support
- Plannable, family-friendly working hours with flexible work arrangements
Respect!
- Zero tolerance for sexism, sexualized violence, and bullying in the workplace
- Prevention and sanction programs in companies
- Targeted FINTAQ promotion and support in companies
- Improved occupational health and safety
- Recognition of care work in the wage system
