What is the PrekariFonds?
You worked fewer hours than planned? Are you working temporarily and have been terminated at very short notice? Have you lost social assistance or social insurance benefits? Or do you have unmanageable short-term expenses due to illness or other unexpected events?
We have set up the FAU PrekariFonds precisely for such cases! All FAU members can apply to the PrekariFonds for up to CHF 500 per year. The PrekariFonds receives 10 % of all FAU membership fees to finance this.
Are you in a precarious situation and need financial support? Then you can download the application form here and send it to us below once completed. We have tried to keep the application form as simple and low-threshold as possible - if something is still not clear, you are welcome to contact us by e-mail. Applications will be treated with the utmost discretion and the data will be deleted within one accounting year. The FAU-PrekariFonds gives an account of its expenditure at the FAU General Assembly.
On this page you will find more information about the Prekarifonds, the procedure for sending a form, or how to contact us
Send an application?
Here you can download the template for your application. You can then export the form in PDF format and download it below.
Please note that you must first read the fund's regulations and articles of association.
Regulations and Articles of Association DE/FR/EN
Step 1 : Download the application form
Step 2: Fill in the form
It's best to print out the form and fill it in by hand. Then either scan the form in PDF format or take a photo.
Step 3: Upload and send the application
upload the completed form and attachments below
What happens to your application now?
1. Your application will be anonymized. Only the PrekariFonds member who processes your e-mail knows who it is about.
2. The members of the PrekariFonds discuss your anonymized application. If there are any unanswered questions, a member of the PrekariFonds will contact you by e-mail.
3. The members of the PrekariFonds votes on the approval or rejection of the application and a member contacts you with the decision. You should hear from us no later than one week after submitting your application.
4. If the application is approved, the transfer will be carried out by the FAU-Ko.
Contact Prekarifonds
Just fill out the contact form in the link and you will directly contact the PrekariFonds for questions etc.
Why is the PrekariFonds important?
Work on demand, fixed-term employment contracts, marginal employment or temporary work: more and more people are working under so-called ‘atypical’ working conditions. These are characterised by a lack of social or labour law coverage and a lack of livelihood security. These forms of employment are by no means that atypical, as according to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, around 10% of all workers in Switzerland were employed in this type of employment in 2022.
These employments are accompanied by great financial insecurity: For example, due to seasonal fluctuations in demand, work on demand can involve less work than expected, while at the same time workers are often required to maximise their flexibility. As a result, the employment takes up a great deal of space and time in the lives of workers, even though little or no work can be done and little or no money earned. Or temporary workers are dismissed within a few days and it is uncertain when and if they will find a job again.
Official figures on ‘atypical’ working conditions do not include workers in the gig economy, i.e. freelancers who move from job to job by offering their work on platforms. It also does not include the working poor, i.e. people who cannot or can only just cover their living costs despite having working a lot. According to SRF, there were an estimated 300,000 people living in Switzerland in 2023 who fit this definition. As people affected by poverty are heavily stigmatised, it can be assumed that the number of unreported cases is likely to be significantly higher.
Furthermore, income insecurity or fluctuations, i.e. the defining characteristics of precarisation, do not only relate to employment. The amount of social security contributions or social assistance can also be subject to fluctuations, for example due to sanctions or disagreement over who is responsible. And the living situation of all people affected can become even more precarious due to various circumstances, for example if their income falls even further (e.g. due to illness) or the cost of living rises.
Not only are many people in Switzerland already affected by poverty and/or precarious working conditions, but more and more people can be hit unexpectedly by it. We know that nobody gets into a precarious situation on purpose. We know that many factors come together over which individuals have no influence.
We set up the PrekariFonds to provide practical support to people affected by such situations. Although the PrekariFonds provides concrete support in specific individual cases, we never lose sight of the structural problems that lead to precarisation and poverty and view all the cases we receive as part of this structure and not as isolated individual cases. In addition to concrete support in individual cases, trade union and political work is therefore also central in our eyes in order to combat and overcome the capitalist economic system as the cause of poverty and precarisation.