Cantons and social partners come to an agreement "A lot of work went into agreeing the measures"
The social partners and the cantons have agreed on domestic wage protection measures. The Federal Council took note of their agreement, which was reached under the leadership of Economics Minister Guy Parmelin, on Wednesday.
19.02.2025, 14:20
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- In December 2024, the EU and Switzerland reached a substantive agreement on new treaties to govern their future relations.
- A three-stage safeguarding concept for wage protection was agreed, whereby the Swiss level of wage protection is to be additionally safeguarded by domestic policy measures.
- Seco held over 60 discussions with social partners and cantons to define domestic policy measures for wage protection, which are divided into three categories.
In December 2024, Brussels and Bern reached a substantive agreement on new treaties to regulate future relations. It was already apparent during the exploratory talks with the EU that the Swiss level of wage protection would have to be secured with domestic policy measures, as the Federal Council wrote.
"There was a lot of work behind the agreement on domestic measures for Swiss wage protection", said Economics Minister Guy Parmelin to the media in Bern on Wednesday. Domestic wage protection is very important to the national government.
Over 60 talks
The social partners, cantons and Federal Council agreed that domestic measures for wage protection were needed in addition to the foreign policy outcome of the negotiations. Bern and Brussels agreed on a three-stage safeguard concept for wage protection.
In order to define domestic measures for wage protection, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has been holding talks with the social partners and the cantons since December 2022. According to the Federal Council, the "common understanding" of the umbrella organizations of the social partners and the cantons was reached after more than sixty discussions.
The domestic measures can be divided into three categories. The first includes measures where no agreement could be reached with Brussels. This includes, for example, the expenses regulations for employees posted to Switzerland. In order to find a solution here, the domestic political leeway should be exploited to the maximum.
Compensating for concessions
A second category includes measures to directly compensate for concessions made to the EU, such as the shortening of the pre-registration period for posted workers from eight calendar days to four working days.
The third block consists of measures aimed at allaying fears that the services ban could come under pressure as a sanction option in the Posted Workers Act. According to the Federal Council, this ban is an important measure. It was imposed over 600 times in 2023. Foreign companies are affected.
However, the Federal Council considers it necessary to take further measures to protect wages. These should guarantee the social partnership structures for wage protection and the collective employment agreements (CEAs) that have already been declared generally binding. Companies in Switzerland that are to be subject to such a CLA are to receive more legal protection.
On Wednesday, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) received the mandate to finalize the detailed design of all measures with the social partners and the cantons by the end of March 2025.
