march 7 2024 | Medienmitteilungen

Aviation

Record Result at Swiss: SEV-GATA Demands Staff Appreciation

The ground staff union SEV-GATA is pleased with Swiss' best operating result in history of CHF 718.5 million and congratulates the staff who made this success possible thanks to their commitment despite being understaffed in many areas. However, the employees are still waiting for their fair share of the company's success, which would be the first important step in the "investment in employees" announced by Swiss management.

"We cannot take the top performances of Swiss employees for granted given the chronic staff shortages since the mass layoffs in 2021," says trade union secretary Philipp Hadorn, president of SEV-GATA. "Because at some point, even the most motivated and loyal employees will reach exhaustion if they are constantly doing extra work, filling in for colleagues who have fallen ill, and always have to be highly flexible." 

The fatal mass layoffs in 2021 were caused by misjudgements by Swiss management. The managers also arrogantly ignored SEV-GATA's urgent warnings that the dismissed employees would be missing as soon as aviation became possible again on a large scale (see, for example, media release "Mass Layoffs: Swiss Is Shooting Itself in the Foot" of 6 May 2021, in German). Unsurprisingly, this scenario has now become reality. "To this day, employees are suffering from the consequences and providing additional services until they reach exhaustion, while management boasts of low production costs and dream results. In 2023 and 2024, well over 3000 employees are being recruited. And the losses of the two Covid years have been compensated for within two years, "notes Philipp Hadorn.

Therefore, it is all the more incomprehensible to SEV-GATA that management did not even want to guarantee compensation for inflation in the wage negotiations for 2024 and broke off the negotiations when the unions insisted on the compensation for inflation and demanded an appropriate participation of employees in the fruits of their work.

"The new Swiss management must ensure that their human resources management no longer resembles that of low-cost airlines. Management must once again show the employees the due appreciation and enable them to work with dignity – without constant overload and incitement," says Philipp Hadorn. "And there is an urgent need for a true social partnership with real participation."

Further Information:

Philipp Hadorn, Union Secretary SEV and President SEV-GATA, 079 600 96 70,