LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Four Portuguese masonry workers in canton Vaud, under contract to a Portuguese company, have been “exploited” says a Swiss trade union official.
Pietro Carobbio of Unia, a Swiss union, says the original contractor, a German company, sub-contracted a second German company to hire workers for the construction project in Aclens, Vaud. The second company then sub-contracted with a Portuguese agency which employed the four men for euros 3.15/hour, or about CHF3.78. The going rate for masonry work in Switzerland is at least CHF25 francs/hour.
After union workers picketed the site, the German company agreed to pay the wages the union says are due and to review employees’ salaries to ensure compliance with Swiss labour agreements.
According to the union leader, with the economic crisis in the European Union “this type of abuse is increasingly common.”
Carobbio said unions will continue pushing for changes to Swiss law so that “contracting companies can be punished for wage and safety conditions violations carried out by sub-contractors.”
Workers in 2010 had a small amount left over after inflation cut into slightly higher salaries
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - There wasn’t a lot left over for additional spending in 2010, in Swiss households, despite wages inching up by 0.8 percent. Inflation also rose by a whiff, 0.7 percent, leaving a small improvement of 0.1 percent. A monthly salary of CHF10,000 would thus have seen a real improvement of CHF100 in 2010.
The Swiss nominal wage index rose to 108 points, compared to the base of 100 set in 2005.
The 2010 figures were lower than the two preceding years, with 2.0 and 2.1 percent increases respectively, for 2008 and 2009.
The 2010 salaries, with an overall 0.8 percent increase, were negotiated in October 2009, in the uncertain and gloomy climate of the economic crisis.
The figures include the half million workers covered by collective contracts, negotiated for 0.7 percent increases in 2010, and the services sectors, where salaries rose 0.9 percent.
The textile industry saw the smallest salary increases while the chemical industry, up 1 percent on average, saw the largest, but for the chemical industry this was nevertheless the lowest rise since 1999.
Related stories this week: latest figures on Swiss Consumer Price Index, Swiss unemployment
Buildings go up, but not construction salaries, in Switzerland in 2011
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Travail.Suisse, a union that represents 170,000 workers in three major industries, says it is “satisfied” with salaries negotiated for 2011, up to 3 percent in some cases. The construction business is the only one where negotiators have failed to agree, with companies recommending a 1 percent increase, turned down by the unions. Travail.Suisse would like to see workers continue to make up for weak cost of living increases from 2004 to 2008, when Swiss GDP rose by mor ethan 14 percent, but salaries were barely increased. Real purchasing power for workers rose by 2.6 percent in 2009 thanks to salary increases that outpaced the minimal rise in the cost of living.
Next year should help workers catch up, the group says, with a cost of living increase forecast for 0.7 percent.
Links to other sites: Travail.Suisse (Fre), TSR (Fre)
Swiss wages up
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Collective labour agreements for companies with 1,500 employees or more will see an increase in real wages of 0.7 percent for 2010, a lower hike than in the past five years.
Of the total, 0.3 percent is to be awarded collectively and 0.4 percent individually.
Minimum wages for the companies will also rise by 0.7 percent. The negotiations involved nearly one million workers.
Foreigners at top end out-earn Swiss
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Top managers’ salaries in Switzerland have continued to rise “sharply”, especially in the financial field, since 2006, and the spread between Switzerland’s lowest paid workers and highest increased, a preliminary government statistical report shows. Well-qualified foreign workers and those with long-term C residence permits out-earn their Swiss counterparts while foreigners with lower qualifications and some border workers earn less than Swiss people in comparable jobs.
Salaries, bonuses for insurers, bankers up sharply 2006-2008
The Swiss Statistical Office Tuesday 17 November issued its preliminary report on salaries in 2008. Salaries remained mostly stable, it shows, with the financial sector an exception: salaries and bonuses both rose, with top managers’ salaries increasing 38.8 percent from 2006-2008, compared to an 11.6 percent increase for top managers in all other fields.
Sony will keep wages unchanged for this year and cut bonuses from six to four months. The global financial crisis has hit the Japanese technology sector, causing Sony to freeze workers’ salaries in order to recover, reports Reuters. Sony, unlike some of its competitors, does not raise wages automatically based on seniority. Instead, wages increase annually based on role and performance, and rivals may follow suit as the crisis worsens. Reuters
