Lausanne, Switzerland (24 Heures, Fre) – Police and cantonal authorities met Wednesday and failed to reach agreement on pollice salaries as well as payment for the overtime officers put in during the Euro 2008 games. As a result, the refusal by police to issue minor traffic tickets, whose fines are an important source of cantonal revenue, continues.
Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – Real salaries inched up in 2006 by 0.1%. While the increase shows near-stagnation in purchasing power for the Swiss, it is a turnaround: the first increase in the rate of growth since 2001. The rate of growth of real salaries in 2005 was slightly negative, -0.2%. The figures are part of the annual salary statistics released by the Federal Statistical Office (OFS) in Bern Monday.
The nominal salary index shows a 2.1% increase, but with the cost of living up 1.1% real salaries rose only slightly. The real salary figure is a key to consumer spending power, but the annual figures published by the OFS ultimately serve as the basis for salary negotiations for collective contracts in Switzerland every autumn.
