“Unions promote a culture of jealousy in Switzerland”

What do the pilot, construction worker and nurse have in common? Not all of them are satisfied with their salaries! Some threatened to go on strike, others quit soon after. Labor disputes in Switzerland are causing particularly heated and poisonous debates this autumn. Just now, liberal think tank Avenir Suisse is releasing a new study that Blick has previously accessed. He shoots the unions head-on and questions the importance of wage protection.

“We are in much better shape in Switzerland than the unions would like us to believe,” Peter Grünenfelder (54), director of Avenir Suisse, tells Blick. “In Switzerland, income and wealth are widely distributed, which is essential for social cohesion.” He bases his statements on data: Between 2008 and 2020, the lowest ten percent of wages in Switzerland increased by almost twelve percent, the same as the top ten percent of wages.

Opening the wage gap is a fairy tale

Remarkable: Comparatively, the wages of the low-skilled rose even faster than the wages of the highly-skilled. “The wage gap is a union fairy tale,” says Grünenfelder, who is a candidate for the FDP as a member of the governing council in the canton of Zurich. “The unions, with their distorted statements, are only spreading the culture of jealousy in Switzerland.”

Daniel Lampart, 54, chief economist of the Swiss Confederation of Trade Unions (SGB), contradicted when asked by Blick that it had nothing to do with jealousy. “More and more workers are struggling to make ends meet due to inflation and premium shocks. These people have the right to live humanely on the salary they receive.” What’s more: with a salary of 40,000 francs per month, this has increased by more than 4,000 francs since 2008. With a monthly wage of 4,000 francs, the increase in absolute figures was only 400 francs.

The poorest in society do not benefit from the minimum wage

It is good news that the wage gap in Switzerland is no longer widening. But the think tank also warns that the myth of a liberal labor market with flexible working conditions will become less and less true in 2022. The state intervenes too much under the pressure of the unions.

The study’s authors cite the cantonal minimum wage as one example. Since Swiss voters rejected a national minimum wage in 2014, minimum wages have been introduced in five cantons. However, the high and ever-increasing Swiss wages do not result from such measures, but from a proven social partnership and a flexible labor market. “Minimum wages are inappropriate as a socio-political tool,” says Grünenfelder. The think tank puts forward the figure for this: Nine out of ten people affected by poverty are unemployed or only working part-time – so the poorest in society will never benefit from the minimum wage.

Unionist Daniel Lampart disagrees: “Cantonal minimum wages are used to enforce subsistence.” It is worrying that an association like Avenir Suisse is demanding salaries that are not enough to live on. “And just so that companies can make more profits. The general public must then pay through welfare or supplementary benefits.

GAV as a guarantee of industrial peace

In addition to the minimum wage, Avenir Suisse sees the generally binding collective bargaining agreement (GAV) as a threat. Under certain conditions, the GAV may be declared to be generally binding. This means that they also apply to companies and employees who are not members of an association or union. As a result, it becomes more difficult and sometimes impossible to freely determine wages in the company, according to research.

“There is a creeping unionization in the job market,” Grünenfelder tells Blick, citing the data: In 15 years, the number of workers subject to a generally binding CLA has more than tripled across Switzerland. “Political participation in wage setting is already a reality in Switzerland today,” says Grünenfelder.

The employers’ association regards collective bargaining agreements as generally positive. “Thanks to the GAV, there is industrial peace in Switzerland and almost no strikes. This is one of the success factors of our country.” Grünenfelder also does not want to do without a collective bargaining agreement. “But with a sense of proportion and only where it makes sense,” he says.