The Jura Socialist Party wants companies to take out their wallets to participate in subsidizing daycare centers. The PSJ intends to launch a popular initiative entitled “Childcare structure: a secure future for Jura families”. Its objective is to guarantee all families in the canton a place in a childcare structure for children up to school entry age. To do this, the PSJ wants businesses to also participate in financing this service, in the same way as households, the State and municipalities.
Several companies interviewed by RFJ left the door open to this type of solution. Some had also considered avenues in the past. For example, a private daycare center was planned at Joray-Wyss SA, before being abandoned due to lack of funding. Considerations to help parents have been undertaken elsewhere. Everyone therefore agrees with one of the main arguments of PSJ president Raphaël Ciocchi. “Allowing parents to be able to look after their children allows them to develop professionally, which makes them available to work and earn a salary,” he explains. An income which also helps support the purchasing power of families. The interests are therefore multiple, according to the company Humard SA, especially since there is a shortage of qualified labor in Switzerland, according to it. A view shared by the other companies surveyed. Here again, the reflections echo those of Raphaël Ciocchi. “The fact of having available collaborators is what makes the workforce, so for me companies are extremely profitable from this point of view. When there is a staff shortage, we look elsewhere. These measures would allow companies to ensure qualified, available and close labor,” he says.
Be careful all the same
For the moment, the different players seem to be on the same wavelength. However, we must be careful, since certain fears still emanate from the entrepreneurial world. Indeed, both at Joray-Wyss SA and Humard SA, as well as at others, the unfavorable economic climate is brought to the fore. Additional charges in a dark time are not necessarily welcome. The question of conditions therefore arises, particularly concerning the charges that will weigh on businesses. If they are not yet clearly defined, the president of the PSJ wishes to reassure. “We are not targeting any particular company, but ultimately all of them at the same time. We want to base ourselves on their payroll,” he explains, specifying that this model exists in practically all French-speaking cantons. According to him, this solution would boost the Jura economy, as it does elsewhere. An observation shared by the companies interviewed, but they still remain cautious regarding the exact conditions that this initiative would impose. It is difficult for them at the moment to come out formally for or against.
A committee will be formed by the end of the year and the collection of signatures for this popular initiative should begin at the beginning of next year. /lge
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