Swiss army bunkers are in demand as data centres; a petition to keep Aromat in Switzerland is launched; and other news in our Wednesday roundup.
Swiss army bunkers are in demand as data centres
Companies around the world which want to store their sensitive data in safe underground locations are increasingly turning to Switzerland’s disused military shelters.
“These underground facilities are strictly confidential, but they do exist,” said Bastien Henri, sales manager for Bunker Swiss, a company that helps businesses find secure locations for their data.
But the demand exceeds the supply by far.
According to Henri. his company receives around 100 enquiries every week from all over the world seeking data accommodation in Swiss bunkers. There are also customers on a waiting list.
“Unfortunately, the number of available spaces can be counted on one hand,” he said, adding these sought-after storage facilities can cost “in the tens of millions of francs.”
A petition to keep Aromat in Switzerland is being launched
A staple on Swiss tables for generations, Aromat is an iconic product and a part of national identity.
It is, however, slowly losing its ‘Swissness’: Though its manufacturer, Knorr, is owned by a British multinational, Unilever, Aromat continued to be produced in Switzerland, in Thayngen, Schaffhausen.
But there is a mounting concern that the proposed merger between Unilever’s food division and the US company McCormick will move the production out of Switzerland, causing the 180 Thayngen-based employees to lose their jobs.
Therefore, a petition called “Aromat belongs to Switzerland” has been launched, with a goal of collecting 10,000 signatures in order to stop Aromat from movng abroad.
READ MORE: Why are the Swiss so obsessed with Aromat?
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The idea of making companies pay for employees’ iIllnesses to be debated in the Parliament
MP Christian Dandrès from the Social Democratic Party has submitted a motion demanding that employers contribute to the costs of the obligatory health insurance.
He based his proposal on data showing an increase in physical and psychological risks caused by workplace stress.
Dandrès is also pushing for the companies to pay the cost of medical certificates they require sick employees to present.
Experts confirm that certain work conditions increase stress, but point out that the exact proportion of illnesses caused by jobs is difficult to determine.
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Reverse ‘shopping tourism’: Germans flock to petrol stations in Switzerland
In Germany, fuel prices are soaring to record highs but a litre costs 30 cents less at the Swiss border stations – for example in Kreuzlingen, Thurgau.
Daniel Grossheutschi, the chief buyer for a fuel distributor in eastern Switzerland. said he is observing a “significant increase” in German fuel customers on Swiss soil.
“The number of customers from Germany is two to three times higher than it had been previously,” he said.
Conversely, the situation is reversed in Ticino: as petrol prices are cheaper in Italy, many Swiss are crossing the border to fill up there.
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