Petition directed to:

Prof. Dominique Arlettaz, Rector, University of Lausanne

Prof. Béatrice Desvergne, Dean, Faculty of Biology and Medicine

Prof. Jörg Stolz, Dean, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies

Prof. Bettina Kahil-Wolff, Dean, Faculty of Law, Criminal Justice and Public Administration

Prof. François Rosset, Dean, Faculty of Arts

Prof. Fabien Ohl, Dean, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences

Prof. Thomas von Ungern, Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics

Prof. François Bussy, Dean, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment

Celebrating 476 years in existence, the University of Lausanne (UNIL) is currently among the most recognized and academically respected institutions across Europe (1), poised at the forefront of innovation and academic knowledge. The latter is a result of the quality research carried out by more than 2,700 active researchers, a great proportion of whom originate from a multitude of countries around the globe, rendering UNIL a multinational center of research.

Until now, foreign researchers in Switzerland could choose coverage by an international health insurance company for up to 6 years, at a considerably lower cost than Swiss national insurance (LAMal). This coverage was always subject to approval by the cantons as being equivalent to LAMal. The existence of such an option was a considerable financial relief to foreign researchers and their families, counterbalancing the expense of relocating internationally.

As of January 1, 2014, in the canton of Vaud, foreign researchers earning over CHF 3,500 brut/month with over 50% activity must now be insured by a Swiss LAMal insurance as soon as their current exemption expires. Among foreign researchers, this affects the majority of doctoral students and all postdoctoral researchers and their families. With no warning, foreign researchers and their families are expected to sustain a steep increase in costs (200-500%) of their monthly healthcare fee combined with up to a 5-fold increase in the annual deductible/franchise. These changes badly affect those of us who are already at the lower end of the pay scale and who have the least job security. Moreover, this may discourage young researchers from careers in academia and drive them towards more lucrative positions in private industry. Indeed, a survey of 174 UNIL/EPFL academic researchers (2) reveals that 96% are strongly affected by this change and 70% of these respondents say, this change may have influenced their decision to come or may influence their decision to remain in Switzerland for their research endeavors.

These high costs for health insurance have always affected Swiss academic researchers. Now they will affect all researchers, Swiss and foreign. With this petition we ask the University of Lausanne to take direct action on 1) the establishment of a collective health insurance scheme and 2) the renegotiation of our current salaries. The aim of a collective scheme is to negotiate with one insurance company a group rate for both foreign and native UNIL employees, providing more affordable prices for LAMal coverage. In other developed countries, negotiated employee discounts are common, and/or employers contribute directly towards the cost of coverage (i.e., Netherlands, Belgium, USA, Canada). In addition, the issue of this sudden rise in cost of living has awakened us to the fact that UNIL researchers’ salaries have not been adjusted since 2007 (3). Therefore, we ask that the current levels be revisited, and we propose a unilateral augmentation to compensate for the increase in health insurance costs. As it has been 7 years since the last adjustment, during which costs of living, including that of health insurance, have continued to rise, we feel this is a reasonable request.

We, the undersigned, are concerned by these matters and formally request the support of the University of Lausanne in active discussion and collaboration towards solutions that benefit and support all its academic researchers.

(1) http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2013-14/world-ranking/region/europe/range/001-200/page/1/order/rank%7Casc

(2) https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WWCGLJ2

(3) http://www.unil.ch/webdav/site/srh/shared/Lois_reglements/

Bareme_assistants_et_assistants_doctorants__2013.pdf

Petition co-authors:

Tanja Bhuiyan and Sabrina Vollers, PhD,

Center for Integrative Genomics;

Konstantinos Nikopoulos, PhD,

Department of Medical Genetics;

Premnath Rajakannu,

Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois;

Elena Menietti,

Department of Biochemistry;

with the support of ACIDUL: Association du corps intérmediare

et des doctorant.e.s de l’Université de Lausanne