Party Negotiations on the national collective agreement for the construction industry continue
No agreement has yet been reached in the negotiations on the national collective agreement for the construction industry. The master builders rejected faster negotiations.
11.11.2025, 14:41
SDA
Specifically, the unions proposed extending Monday's negotiations on the national framework agreement (LMV) and continuing negotiations the following day, as Unia and Syna announced on Tuesday. However, the Swiss Federation of Master Builders (SBV) rejected this.
When asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency, the SBV justified this approach. "Rushing into further negotiations would not lead to responsible results for the industry," said a media spokeswoman. In order to be able to continue the talks in a serious and goal-oriented manner, thorough preparations and technical clarifications are absolutely necessary.
In addition, the SBC's negotiating delegation consists of company representatives, which is why it would not have been reasonable to extend the meetings in the course of day-to-day business, the statement continued. The unions again rejected a further round of negotiations at the end of the week. The next scheduled round of negotiations is planned for next Monday.
Contract expires at the end of the year
The current LMV - the collective labor agreement for the main construction industry - affects around 80,000 employees. It expires at the end of the year and must be renegotiated between the trade unions and the SBV.
Among other things, the unions are demanding shorter working hours that are compatible with family life. The SBV wants to stick to a working week of 40.5 hours and flexible working hours so that construction sites can compensate for lost working hours due to weather conditions, for example.
The trade unions criticize that this would mean that employees would also have to work on Saturdays, whereas the SBC assures that this would only occur in exceptional cases. In the cantons of Ticino, Vaud, Bern and Basel-Stadt, strike action involving thousands of participants took place as a result of the negotiations. The next protests are due to take place in Zurich on Friday.
