Swiss companies raise salaries this much

Good news for employees. Many Swiss companies pay them much more as of January 1, 2023. The AWP news agency analyzed the 2023 wage round. These are the results by industry.

Retail giant Coop will raise wages by 2 percent in 2023. Including additional shopping vouchers of up to 800 francs, the cooperative even provides 3 percent for higher staff wages.

Employees earning up to 4,500 francs received an overall wage increase of 2 percent. However, some social partners criticize that this does not fully compensate for inflation.

Migros offers its employees sports and leisure activities

Migros will increase wages between 2.0 percent and 2.8 percent. Minimum wages will also be increased. According to the information received, the new national collective bargaining agreement, which will be effective from January, will offer employees at least 800 francs for offers Migros offers in club schools, fitness or entertainment and in the form of flexible maternity leave models.

For this reason, a portion of the higher wage is given to Migros employees as a one-time bonus in the form of goods checks.

Denner rose 2.3 percent

Denner, a subsidiary of Migros, also decided to raise salaries for the next year. The discounter increases payroll by 2.3 percent. Sales and logistics workers benefit disproportionately: They received a 2.4 percent pay increase.

Management wages will increase by 2.0 percent. The minimum wage is also increasing. Unskilled workers in sales and logistics now get 4,300 francs with 100 percent workload – those with three years of vocational training get 4,500 francs.

Weekly working hours reduced by one hour

Fenaco, which is owned by Landi cooperatives, will increase wages by 2.6 percent for 2023. This consists of a 1.5 percent increase in fees and a one-time payment of CHF 800.

In line with the pay cycle, various business units are reducing their weekly working hours by one hour. The unions were not satisfied here either, they demanded more.

14,200 employees will benefit from Roche

The salary bill of approximately 14,200 employees of Basel-based pharmaceutical company Roche working in this country will increase by 2.3 percent as of April 1, 2023.

According to the information obtained, meetings were held with the Roche Employees Association (AVR) and the Basel Workers’ Commission (AKR) on the way to wage adjustment.

Employees at Novartis will also benefit from a 2.2 percent wage increase from March 1, 2023. The increase applies to about 10,900 of the 11,600 employees in Switzerland, according to a media spokesperson.

SBB distributed an additional 80 million Swiss francs

From 2023, SBB rail staff will receive an overall 1.8 percent higher salary. The railway company agreed on this with the social partners in its latest fare round. In addition, there is a one-off gradual premium of 0.5 percent of the payroll and an individual salary correction fund of 1.0 percent.

Therefore, SBB applies measures totaling 3.3 percent of the fee bill. This corresponds to an order of magnitude more than 80 million francs. The measures also apply to SBB Cargo.

Pilots and cabin crew earn more money

In Swiss, both pilots and cabin crew will receive significantly more money from 2023. The new cabin GAV specifically provides entry-level salaries of CHF 4,000. That’s 600 francs more than before. In addition, wage increases between 4% and 18% will be provided to all cabin crew, depending on their seniority and qualifications.

After a long round-trip with the pilots, the airline had already agreed on new operating conditions at the end of October. At the time, the airline agreed with the pilots on a 2.3 percent wage increase and a 2 percent inflation adjustment, among other things.

Swissport raises salaries by at least 4 percent

In mid-October, Swissport and its employees agreed to higher wages and the reintroduction of 2019 working conditions.

Accordingly, employees will receive a wage increase of at least four percent and a one-off payment of 500 francs next year. An automatic cost of living adjustment was also introduced in the new collective bargaining agreement.

Travel industry benefits from higher wages

Travel agency DER Touristik Suisse, which owns the Kuoni brands, will start paying its employees more salaries from next year. The remaining employees receive a one-time bonus. Specifically, Kuoni will pay an additional CHF 50 per month to around 100 trainees from 2023.

Globetrotter Group, with its 13 subsidiaries, will increase wages by 4 percent by 2023. “All around 300 employees will be paid at least 2 percent more,” Chairman of the Board of Directors André Lüthi tells Tamedia newspapers. The other 2 percent will be used as performance pay or recognition for the special effort available.

The wage increase is not the same for every banker.

Fees are also increasing at UBS. As of March, Switzerland’s largest bank will raise 2.25 percent to its employees up to (including) mid-level managers working in Switzerland.

Salary increase is not the same for every banker, but is market, function and performance oriented. In individual cases, the increase may be more or less than 2.25 percent.

More pay for federal staff too

At the beginning of December, the Federal Council decided to award federal employees a 2.5 percent cost-of-living allowance for 2023. This is the result of the negotiations that Finance Minister Ueli Maurer, as “head of human resources”, conducted in mid-November with the heads of the staff associations.

The canton of Zurich wants to give 55,000 state employees, including teachers, a 3.5 percent inflation adjustment at the start of the year. This cost him 165 million Swiss francs. The budget still needs to be approved by the cantonal parliament.

150 francs more for construction workers

Nine rounds of negotiations took place to reach an agreement: In September, builders and unions resolved a smoldering worker dispute to be able to strike a new state contract.

Construction workers thus receive an additional 150 francs per month. In addition, the minimum wage will be increased by 100 CHF per month. Also, paternity leave must be fully funded at 100 percent wages with no loss of wages. (AWP/ne)