Our river cruise service

On European rivers such as the Rhine and the Danube, about 4,000 nautical employees and 10,000 hospitality employees work on almost 400 ships. Many of them have a Swiss employment contract and are therefore subject to Swiss legislation. Nautilus International advises these employees on all questions pertaining to labour law and social insurance. If necessary, we also represent them in court.

Fundamentally, we want to improve the conditions for all river cruise workers. To this end, we work closely with our sister unions within the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF), because working conditions are linked to European regulations in many ways.

Even though there are still many grievances – such as low wages and incorrectly recorded or unpaid overtime – there has been movement at both the national and European level in recent years. The media and authorities have become aware of problems within the sector, and some employers and tour operators are trying to set a positive example.