Catherwood LibraryILR School

15,000 construction workers walked off the job yesterday in Switzerland?s first strike in fifty-five years, and its first nation-wide strike since the Swiss Army fired on 250,000 striking workers eighty-four years ago, killing three. Following an accord agreed to by employers and unions in 1937, the country?s labor relations became characterized by a consensus-building approach ensuring prolonged labor peace that resulted in yesterday?s strike being hindered by a general unfamiliarity with how to go about a strike. This lack of experience---combined with the fact that the construction workforce in Switzerland is composed almost entirely of a diverse array of foreign workers who often do not speak Swiss---did not, however, prevent the workers from blocking major highways in Zurich and Geneva, and blocking tram service in Zurich.