Senate moves to extend labour-market access

The Swiss Senate has voted in favour of a government plan to ease access to the Swiss labour market for citizens of the ten new European Union member states. Parliamentarians voted on Thursday unanimously in favour of the proposal, which includes a series of measures to combat the threat of wage dumping.Earlier this year the second phase of a bilateral accord with Brussels came into effect, removing the priority previously given to Swiss workers on the domestic labour market. The latest proposal agreed by parliamentarians would see this accord extended on a gradual, step-by-step basis to include the ten new EU member states. Restrictions are not expected to be fully lifted before 2011 at the earliest. The House of Representatives, Switzerland’s other parliamentary chamber, is scheduled to debate the issue next week.