Employment, tourism and the environment at the heart of the “Swiss fox”

“On 1 January, we renewed the collective labour agreement for the fourth time. You can open up a business here only if you respect our rules.” With pride, Silvio Tarchini and his daughter Giorgia explain how the labour agreement at Fox Town works.

“In these sixteen years, we’ve always had excellent relations with the trade unions. Over one thousand people work here, of whom, two thirds come from across the border. The minimum salary is SF3900 a month. We have a joint committee which checks that the rules are applied, particularly with respect to working hours.”

An important addition has been made to the new contract. “We’ve introduced four more weeks for women who go on maternity leave,” explains Giorgia Tarchini (in the photo, with her sister Nadia on her right). “There are a lot of women employees, and we think it’s important to take their family situations into consideration.”

In addition to employment, Fox Town is increasing its attention to the theme of tourism. It is doing this with a series of agreements and partnerships, such as those with Swissminiatur, Monte Generoso, and the cableways of Airolo and Monte Tamaro.

“We think that tourists should be welcomed and spoilt, because if they have good memories of our region, they’ll come back,” explains Silvio Tarchini. “So we want to boost our commitment to new markets, such as the Middle East, Asia and Russia, because it’s from there that important customers might come.”

This explains the commitment to establishing an important area north of Lugano, which has become the “Resort Collina d’Oro”. The famous “Deutsches Haus”, a health and entertainment resort founded at the beginning of the 1900s, which was neglected for many years, has become the new frontier in hospitality, with apartments, suites and rooms, providing a genuine experience of wellbeing.

To conclude the commitment of the Tarchini family, there is the construction of a new multi-storey car park, which will be built, in the next few years, near the railway station on the Lugano-Varese line, which was possible thanks to the connection between Arcisate and Stabio. As Tarchini says, “We want to put those who choose the car at a disadvantage; it’s important to us to encourage customers that choose public transport.”