PCP
Economic time differs from household time
A factory may change products over several years; households pay rent monthly. A retraining promise is inadequate if income ends before training or the next salary. The PCP wants protection across the whole journey, from announcement to a verified employment outcome.
This does not guarantee an identical job in every municipality. It requires shared costs and risks. Workers should not finance transformation alone through lost income and unpaid adaptation when owners, public support or collective decisions drive the change.
Use short-time work for its purpose
On 21 October 2026, the Federal Council announced a possible gradual return to ordinary short-time-work conditions. The twenty-four-month maximum remains applicable through 31 January 2027, with another review planned for December. This does not predetermine February’s decision. Later proposed parameters are not settled entitlements.
Short-time work temporarily preserves employment relationships during recognised lost activity. It replaces neither industrial strategy nor a general income guarantee for every conversion. The PCP wants the next step prepared during the time gained. Waiting until the last payment to examine alternatives turns stabilisation into a staff countdown.
Negotiate continuity
The PCP proposes transition agreements involving businesses, unions and responsible public authorities. They would define covered circumstances, income protection, duration, eligible training and financing responsibilities. These guarantees must be created politically and contractually; they are not existing universal worker rights.
The employer initiating restructuring must contribute. A negotiated industry fund could share risks where skills serve an entire sector. Public participation needs a verifiable collective purpose and conditions. Public solidarity should not replace employers’ available financing capacity.
Training includes the means to live
Course fees alone do not provide income, study time, travel or childcare. Prerequisites should be identified before enrolment. A course too short to deliver its advertised qualification adds a certificate without a meaningful professional opening.
Recognising existing skills avoids repetition without lowering the new occupation’s safety or quality standards. The PCP supports routes prepared with training institutions, guidance and revision when a choice proves unsuitable. Enrolment counts alone are inadequate.
Verify the next job
A vacancy needs known conditions: qualifications, location, hours, schedule, pay and duration. Relocation can raise costs or make childcare impossible. These constraints should be recognised without treating every hesitation as refusal to adapt.
The PCP supports offers recognising qualifications rather than repeated precarious trials. Employers benefiting from funded training should commit to induction, workplace learning and job conditions. Moving to another business should not merely transfer the same income insecurity.
Keep discussion of change open
Collective-redundancy consultation already seeks avoidance, limitation or mitigation. It does not guarantee equivalent employment. Additional transition security should complement it: financing departure must not replace examination of continued or converted activity.
Workers need the assumptions and representation before options close. Public assistance should require that discussion and commitments to retained capacity. Transition language must not justify a closure whose alternatives nobody could examine.
Lasting protection needs explicit finance
Costs depend on reference income, duration and the number of supported routes. A total without assumptions cannot support a financing debate. The PCP wants defined contributions, appropriate reserves and controlled use.
Results should measure people actually protected and the quality of subsequent work. Savings obtained by excluding part-time workers, older people or those without recognised qualifications would contradict the purpose. Security must enable change without protecting only those already able to bear it.