The Swiss Trade Union Federation says that after three months of talks, clear progress has been made in wage negotiations with employers for the year to come.

Agreements have been reached that will result in wage increases of 2.5 per cent and more for many branches, the federation reported on Monday.

"Taking into account company financial results and the gains in productivity, it was high time that the majority of wage earners receive such increases," commented federation president Paul Rechsteiner at a news conference in Bern.

He said that workers in Switzerland had now emerged from "difficult years".

However, he said there were still a number of companies and branches in which the increases were lower than two per cent.

Rechsteiner said the federation gave its priority in this year's talks to salary equality between men and women.

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