Employee associations demand up to 4.5 percent wage increase

It can't be explained away: The cost of living is rising steadily due to inflation. However, employees' wages have hardly risen at all, especially in the low-wage sector, as the two employee associations Kaufmännischer Verband Schweiz and Angestellte Schweiz note. The modest wage increases in recent years hardly compensate for the rising cost of living, they complain. The two associations are therefore demanding up to 4.5% more in wages from 2024. This demand applies in particular to those companies that did not grant their employees the full cost-of-living adjustment last year. This means that each entrepreneurial situation must be considered individually within the required framework, it says in a statement to the media. The exception is low-wage professions. There, a loss of real wages must be avoided.

Profits rise, wages fall: "This can't go on".

Companies make a profit: They regularly present good to very good company figures. But employees feel little or nothing of this in wage negotiations - or they are put off until later. "Every year, the productivity of employees increases and with it the profits of companies," says Michel Lang, head of social partnership at the Swiss Commercial Association. "We are currently experiencing an exceptional situation: a robust labor market and - probably related to this - currently still unbroken consumer behavior among private households. And yet many households are having to cope with a reduction in real income, while companies are distributing profits to their shareholders. Our wage demands are therefore legitimate and necessary." The demanded wage increases are also necessary because the purchasing power of employees is of obvious importance for the Swiss economy: If purchasing power falls, this has a direct, negative impact on the economy.

Attractive wages as an investment against the labor shortage

The constantly rising cost of living hits people in the low-wage sector disproportionately hard and has serious consequences: Many of them have hardly any financial reserves and no capacity left. The Swiss Commercial Association and Angestellte Schweiz are therefore demanding a special effort from companies focusing on people with low incomes in the form of a wage increase of at least CHF 300 per month for employees who earn less than CHF 4200 per month when working full-time. "People in the low-wage sector must have the security that they will not suffer a real wage loss. That is why the required minimum contribution plays an important role," says Stefan Studer, managing director of Angestellte Schweiz. In times of acute shortages of skilled workers, companies would also be investing in their own future if they offered attractive pay, Studer added. Never before have so many people been willing, change their job. And the time for this is better than ever, he says. "If you want to retain skilled workers or need to bring them on board, you have to make money available," says Stefan Studer.

Source: Swiss Commercial Association / Employees Switzerland