European Court of Human Rights finds Switzerland breached strikers' rights in Neuchâtel hospital case

The ruling

The European Court of Human Rights ruled on 5 November 2026 that Switzerland breached Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of assembly and association. The case concerns 17 former employees of La Providence Hospital in Neuchâtel and four trade union secretaries, all dismissed after a strike in 2013. The judges in Strasbourg found that the dismissals infringed the substance of the right to strike. The Swiss courts had treated the strike as unlawful, so the Strasbourg finding reverses the domestic outcome.

How the strike unfolded

The dispute began on 26 November 2012, when about twenty hospital staff walked out to oppose the takeover of the hospital by the Genolier group. The workers objected that the incoming owner refused to apply CCT 21, the collective labour agreement for the health sector in Neuchâtel. Hospital management later asked the strikers to return to their posts, and 22 staff refused, according to one report. On 5 February 2013 all strikers were dismissed with immediate effect, after a walkout that lasted 71 days.

Swiss courts sided with the hospital

The dismissed workers challenged their dismissal, and the case went through every Swiss court up to the Federal Supreme Court. A regional tribunal ruled in 2017 that the hospital foundation had committed no offence, reasoning that the strike did not respect the principle of proportionality. According to that tribunal, the 71-day duration was unusual under Swiss case law and would have harmed the quality of patient care. The Federal Supreme Court reached a similar conclusion in 2018 and again in 2020. It found that the strike lost its character as a last resort after 23 January 2013, when the hospital made concessions, including keeping the collective agreement in place for 2013.

Why Strasbourg reached a different view

The court found that the strikers and unions could not reasonably have foreseen that an initially lawful strike might later be classed as unlawful. It also said there had been no proper weighing of the workers' right to strike against the employer's interests. By denying dismissal protection on that basis, the Swiss courts undermined the core of the right to strike, which the court treats as an essential element of freedom of association under Article 11. According to the court, neither the wording of Article 28 of the Swiss Constitution nor domestic case law gave a clear basis for concluding that a lawful strike could become unlawful from that date.

Compensation

Switzerland must pay compensation to the applicants. One version of the figures gives amounts running from 2,300 to 9,000 francs. Another puts the payment at about 9,000 francs for the employees who sued and about 4,500 francs for the union members.