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Swiss watch industry under threat by immigration laws

  1. CanberraOmega Rabbitohs and Whisky Supporter Mar 30, 2014

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  2. ulackfocus Mar 30, 2014

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    Al Capone got taken down for tax evasion. Maybe the Swiss Watch Syndicate / Monopoly will be knocked down a peg by immigration reform.

    I doubt it though - they're so powerful and such a key to their economy that they'll have a loophole made for them.
     
  3. blackwatch wants tickets to the HyperBole. Mar 31, 2014

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    Boo hoo. Cry me a river. As in the US and everywhere else, this is posturing. They don't actually mean that they can't find enough local workers to get the job done, they just mean they can't find enough CHEAP workers to get the job done.
     
    gatorcpa and ulackfocus like this.
  4. ulackfocus Mar 31, 2014

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    Bingo.
     
  5. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Mar 31, 2014

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    Well, not defending the Swiss watch industry, but they quote the unemployment rate at 3.5% in that article, and by many economist's standards, that is considered full employment. You might be able to get bodies at that rate, but are they skilled or even able to be trained? Not so sure.

    And there seems to be an assumption being made that the people who are crossing the border every day (I've seen it while I was there) are not being paid the same as Swiss citizens or residents, and I am not convinced that is the case.

    In the end the government will bend here, because not bending would be shooting themselves in the foot.

    Cheers, Al
     
  6. MSNWatch Vintage Omega Aficionado Staff Member Mar 31, 2014

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    The Swiss government will bend because to go against what is one of the basic tenets of the EU covenant would mean the potential loss of other EU privileges (including trade) that Switzerland enjoys as a de-facto EU member. The whole point being you cannot cherry pick which EU policies to follow and which to reject.
     
  7. LouS Mrs Nataf's Other Son Staff Member Mar 31, 2014

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    de facto is the key term. Switzerland is not a de jure EU member. Under these circumstances, it probably tries to cherry pick as much as it can get away with.
     
  8. MSNWatch Vintage Omega Aficionado Staff Member Mar 31, 2014

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    Yup they will cherry pick but they are already under notice if the swiss government implements this immigration law strictly then there will be consequences.

    And I only partially agree about the this being a purely cost issue - here in the US, many good watchmakers including the one I use in central NJ are foreign born. I am sure there are many top people in some of the poorer EU nations who perform just as well if not better than the swiss so perhaps they will be paid less but at least some of them will be hired because of the skills they bring to the table.
     
  9. LouS Mrs Nataf's Other Son Staff Member Mar 31, 2014

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    And from the Swiss point of view, all EU members are poorer nations.
     
  10. blackwatch wants tickets to the HyperBole. Mar 31, 2014

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    You subtract the rate of inflation (%) from the "official" unemployment rate to get "true" unemployment. I don't know what the Swiss inflation rate is but 3.5% would be pretty good for them... ideally the rate of inflation is equal to the rate of population growth. (My old economics prof might be rolling over in his grave now, but that's how I remember it.) Anyway, that means Archer could easily be correct and the quoted 3.5% unemployment could be full employment. In the US the unemployment figures are grossly underreported due to so many people having given up... essentially once you fall off of the dole you are invisible to the folks who keep track of those things and whoever is currently in charge will always quote this lowball unemployment figure to make themselves look better. That's the US, HOWEVER weasels being pretty much the same no matter what their home country, any figures used in any economic model anywhere will likely be skewed depending on what they want to prove, and if it's beneficial to them to cite low unemployment as a means to justify importing low-cost workers, then that WILL be done. And I suspect that pretty much sums up the situation in Switzerland.

    Personally I think it might be a good thing to take swatch group down a peg, just to punish them for demolishing the vast majority of their European competitors. But I'm an asshole that way, I deplore the tsunami of corporate buyouts which WILL ultimately render the world a corporatocracy. Those 28-year-olds with net worths of 27 billion dollars tend to get bored and make mischief. (Sorry for the incoherent mewling. When I used to drink I could go for hours.)
     
  11. dsio Ash @ ΩF Staff Member Mar 31, 2014

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    My watchmaker here is actually a Filipino expat in his 60s, I don't know too many watchmakers that can look at a part, or where a part was, in anything from gold to 316L stainless and manufacture a replacement from scratch to a better standard than the original, but he can. I needed two inner pushers for my Cal 320 as the originals had corroded to nothing and no replacement exists from Omega, he whips them up in stainless and charges $80 before promising they'll outlast me. The other three watchmakers I spoke to advised me to sell the movement and melt the 18K case.
     
  12. ulackfocus Mar 31, 2014

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    You can fill in many professions into that sentence. The H1B Visa is holding America's economy together.
     
  13. blackwatch wants tickets to the HyperBole. Mar 31, 2014

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    I wasn't belittling the abilities, talents or skills of anyone born anywhere. I wasn't saying they shouldn't be able to work anywhere they want to. In fact I simply support the idea that they should be paid the local prevailing wage, no matter where they are, so that locals aren't forced out of the job market simply to fatten the bottom line of a corporation.

    My particular industry, software, has been decimated by the overuse of H1B visas. The big software companies also have unwritten and VEWRY illegal agreements not to hire each other's employees in an attempt to keep wages down. (I'm talking Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, etc...)

    Weasles. All of 'em.
     
  14. MSNWatch Vintage Omega Aficionado Staff Member Mar 31, 2014

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    Yup, there are a bunch of them in the Philippines still including a fellow who has worked on many of my watches making parts from scratch as you said. This gentleman also makes tower clocks fabricating many of the parts and he has also passed on his skills - his son is a watchmaker for Patek in HK.