Trade unions are calling for pay rises of up to 5% to compensate workers for years of rising consumer, energy and healthcare prices. Employers are already objecting to the wage increase demands, which signals potential friction during wage negotiations with unions. Trade union Travail Suisse is calling for wages to rise by between 2.5% and 4% next year to make up for the fact that inflation has eaten away the entire value of salary hikes since 2021. Wages increased an average 1.7% in 2023, but a 2.1% rise in the cost of living resulted in a -0.4% loss in real annual income. The Swiss Commercial Association (Kaufmännische Verband) uses the same argument to justify pay rises of up to 5%. The Swiss Employees’ Association (Angestellte Schweiz) argues for a more modest 2.2% rise. Negotiations between trade unions representing hospitality workers and their employers broke down in July and are now headed towards an arbitration tribunal.
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For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.