Standing in front of the sober factory building in Bern-Brünnen, no one would ever think that Switzerland’s most famous chocolate is made here: Toblerone. Each child is known for their unique teeth and their nougat that sticks in between their teeth wonderfully! Angular chocolate is sold all over the world. All in all, things are going well.
And 200 employees are asking for more money for their work. And six percent. With this, they want to compensate for inflation and the high premiums of health insurance companies. They also demand an increase in real wages. “Our factory is pretty profitable,” Urs Brunner (52) tells Blick. He has been working in the chocolate factory for 21 years.
“Health burden is huge”
Brunner is a trained electrician and is therefore on the move throughout the plant. He knows the concerns and needs of his colleagues. Over the years, they would receive between 0.5 and 0.7 percent more salaries. 1.2 percent even once. “With the current rise in prices and ever-increasing health insurance premiums, that’s no longer enough,” says Brunner.
The company broke a production record last year. And yet: the pressure is mounting. Production has recently switched to four-shift operation. “The machines now run seven days a week,” Brunner says. This has ramifications for employees: hardly any free weekends, constant shifts between early, late and night shifts. You can hardly plan your private life anymore. “And the health burden is too great,” he complains.
“Even friends asked for ten percent”
First of all, the Mondelez Group, to which Toblerone belongs, has recently threatened to outsource the production of Swiss cult chocolate to Slovakia. “Now the gold percent has to be there. We are still cautious about this. Some colleagues even asked for ten percent,” says Brunner.
A spokesperson for the food company Mondelez declined to comment on the wage demands. But you stick to the Bern location. Even raise it. So you want to be able to produce an additional 90 million 100 grams of chocolate per year. From autumn, smaller Toblerone products will be produced in Bratislava in 35 gram and 50 gram formats.
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
