Geneve: Advancement of retirement age

Labour law in Geneva – The arduousness of the kitchen assistant function in Vessy is recognized

Thanks to a decision by the Council of State, these workers are now on an equal footing with their HUG counterparts and will be able to retire earlier.

Sophie Simon

Published today at 4:43 p.m.

Kitchen helpers have difficult schedules and work in adverse environments.

FLORIAN CELLA

This is the end of a "long inequality of treatment", says Avenir Syndical. This union supported the kitchen helpers of the EMS Maison de Vessy in the request for recognition of the physical arduousness of their function. Indeed, the cooks of the establishment had already obtained it, as well as the kitchen helpers and cooks of the HUG since 2013. The Council of State has just ruled in their favour.

And it wasn't a foregone conclusion. Indeed, the recognition process is carried out in three stages. If the Joint Technical Committee had given a positive notice, this was not the case for the Finance Committee of the Grand Council. The government's final decision was therefore awaited with concern.

Two functions added:

This is a relief for the union delegate Thierry Daviaud, who highlights the difficult schedules (cut, early in the morning, weekends, holidays, etc.) as well as the unfavorable environment (very cold fridges, very hot stoves, etc.). "They will now be able to retire earlier, a year before the others, and in better conditions, with a  lower discount."

This decision only concerns Vessy and does not automatically extend to kitchen helpers in all EMS, as confirmed by Tatiana Oddo Clerc, Deputy Secretary General in charge of communication of the Department of Finance and Human Resources.

The Executive has also added two new functions to the list of strenuous activities: that of environmental guard and that of group leader of environmental guards.

Sophie Simon has been a journalist with the Geneva section since 2011. It investigates in particular in the fields of education, health, tourism, politics. It also covers the reports of the Court of Auditors and the judgments of the Federal Supreme Court. She holds a master's degree in journalism from CELSA (Sorbonne). More info