Switzerland World War II Quarry Strike, 1943 (b/w photo)

In the quarry of the “Steinbruche und Hartschotterwerke AG” of the community Ringgenberg near Interlaken there was a strike in December 1942, which led to a dismissal of all employees. The work was stopped and the operators presented the workers with a form to sign, which stipulated the resumption of work and a wage of 1.45 Fr. for the whole year 1943. Due to constant inflation, however, the workers did not want their wages to be fixed in advance for the entire year. Portrait of Eduard Blatter, one of the strikers, who worked fifteen years as a stone splitter in the quarry, but now turns his back on it devinitively, taken in May in the war year 1945.