“I’m going to buy myself a glass”

He has been flying around the world as a flight attendant for 22 years. First for Swissair, now for Swiss. Sandrine Nikolic-Fuss, 53, who has been president of the cabin union Kapers for the past three years, was primarily concerned with fighting her employer. A new collective bargaining agreement (GAV) was finally agreed on Thursday. You can see that he is relaxed while talking with a glance. “I’m going to buy myself a glass of champagne tonight,” she says.

Negotiations with airline bosses dragged on for months, with Nikolic-Fuss describing them as “challenging and arduous but solution-oriented”. New stewardesses benefit the most from the new GAV. From January you will receive 4000 francs instead of 3400 – an 18 percent wage increase! All other fees will also increase by at least four percent.

«The goals we have been chasing for decades»

This is a major negotiation success for Nikolic-Fuss and Kapers, who were able to meet their wage demands almost completely. “Wage increases are a big step in the right direction,” he says. “Some of the goals we’ve been chasing for decades can be achieved with the new GAV.”

By this, Nikolic-Fuss means the planability of social life. Cabin members, like pilots, will receive their work schedule a little earlier. In addition, Swiss offers new part-time models, including for students. “It was my goal to restore dignity to this business. We have been successful with these steps,” says Nikolic-Fuss.

Swiss also wanted to make working in the locker room more attractive again. At the airport, airline bosses have found it difficult to recruit new flight attendants after the wave of layoffs during the pandemic. Hundreds of flights were canceled last summer, at least for this reason.

Signal impact for other Swiss airlines?

CEO Dieter Vranckx says that with the new collective bargaining agreement, Swiss wants to take into account the exceptional commitment of the cabin crew over the past few years and “as well as provide the necessary stability and attractive prospects for a successful future in 2023 and beyond”. (49). .

Nikolic-Fuss hopes the deal will have a signaling effect on other Swiss airlines whose fares are currently well below Switzerland’s. For them, it’s a “stage”. New flight attendants at Swiss still earn less today than they did fifteen years ago, he says. “Wages should continue to rise.” And he adds: “I’m a little utopian sometimes.”

DCX STORY: doc7nyk4rdi3x2xs4ed8c4 [Swiss in Zahlen]