Swiss union calls for 5% salary increase in 2024

Pierre-Yves Maillard (left), president of the Swiss Trade Union Federation, and chief economist Daniel Lampart. © Keystone / Anthony Anex

The Swiss Trade Union Federation is calling for salary increases of 5% next year to cope with rising inflation and higher rents and health insurance premiums.

Despite a favourable economic situation, employers do not even want to compensate for the increase in prices, the trade union body told reporters in Bern on Friday.

High profit margins only serve to further increase the very high salaries and bonuses in Switzerland and to pay out dividends, it added.

While low and middle incomes have seen their real wages fall, the 50,000 people who earn at least CHF300,000 ($336,000) annually have benefited from higher wages and dividends, said Trade Union Federation chief economist Daniel Lampart.

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Over 4,000 workers in Switzerland earn more than CHF1 million a year, he went on, almost three times more than 20 years ago. But if nothing changes, next year a couple with two children will earn around CHF3,000 less in real terms than in 2020.

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Trade Union Federation President Pierre-Yves Maillard lamented that the Federal Council and parliament are refusing any reduction in the costs of the working population and that the government is maintaining its austerity projects. 

“It feels like we’re in the middle of an economic crisis, but it’s not the case,” he declared. “The money is there; Switzerland produces an ever-increasing amount of wealth thanks to its workers. But it is more unfairly distributed than ever.”

In addition to a general salary increase of around 5% next year, the trade union body wants to see specific measures against increases in rents and health insurance premiums.

It also wants people who have completed an apprenticeship to earn at least CHF5,000 per month and that in collective bargaining agreements compensation for increases in prices once again becomes the rule.

The trade union body is planning a demonstration in Bern on September 16 to protest a fourth consecutive year of falling real wages.

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