Unions want fair share of company profits

All employees should benefit from economic boom the unions say. RDB

A trade union umbrella group has called for pay rises of up to four per cent to ensure workers share in the economic boom of the past few years.

But Travail Suisse came out against individual wage hikes and is pushing for across-the-board increases.

“Employees have so far not benefited from the economic boom,” said Susanne Blank of Travail Suisse at a news conference in Bern on Monday.

The umbrella group represents about 160,000 workers and comprises unions with Christian roots, including Transfair, Syna and the Hotel & Gastro Union.

Blank said Gross Domestic Product had risen 6.7 per cent between 2004 and 2006, but wages had stayed virtually unchanged. The economic outlook for the coming years was also good, she added.

Productivity rose nearly 15 per cent between 1992 and 2004, but salaries had only grown by 4.3 per cent, said Travail Suisse.

Blank, however, criticised the trend towards individual wage increases, performance-related salaries and bonuses.

“Bonuses and one-off payments are nice, but not sustainable. They must not endanger regular increases,” she said.

Widening gap

She also slammed what she described as “executive salaries of galactic dimensions” and pointed to the widening gap between those at the top and those at the bottom of the pay scale.

Last month Travail Suisse called for an extra week’s holiday to cope with the increased stresses and strains of the workplace.

The Swiss Federation of Trade Unions, which claims around 380,000 members, has also demanded salary increases to make up for the stagnating wage levels of recent years.

“Those who failed to get a promotion or a bonus in 2006 did not receive a franc more than they earned two years ago,” it said in a statement last month.

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

Wages (2004 data Federal Statistics Office)

Industry average: SFr5,727
Chemical sector: SFr 7,273
Textile sector: SFr 4,768
Services: SFr 5,411
Insurance and banking: SFr7,425
IT sector: SFr6,500
Hotel and catering: SFr3,825

In brief

The average monthly salary – before tax – in Switzerland: SFr5,500 ($4,633) based on 2004 data from the Federal Statistics Office.

The Swiss cities of Zurich and Geneva top the pay scale, with average hourly rates (after tax) of SFr25.5 and SFr24.5 respectively, according to a study by the UBS bank.

However, Copenhagen (Denmark) and Oslo (Norway) lead the table of gross salaries per hour.

There is no legal minimum salary in Switzerland.

Unemployment rate: 2.5% (June 2007)