Migros national collective agreement

In October 2009, negotiations on the Migros national collective agreement (L-GAV) for the years 2011 to 2014 reached a successful conclusion.

The Migros L-GAV, which has stood for progressive, exemplary and responsible working conditions since 1983, and which is among the best collective agreements in Switzerland, is well prepared. In recent years it has been dynamically redeveloped, expanded and adapted to new requirements and conditions. The expansion phases, which took effect on 1 January 2003, 1 July 2005, 1 January 2007, 1 July 2008 and 1 January 2009, are milestones along this route. The fact that today over CHF 600 million are spent every year on the Migros L-GAV clearly shows the investments that have been made to ensure that the working conditions in the Migros L-GAV will continue to lead the way in the future.

Despite the economic crisis and major economic challenges, all benefits and everything that has been achieved by the Migros L-GAV remain, and will remain for years to come, guaranteed at the same high level, without limitations. They set standards and benchmarks covering an extensive agenda of issues that are of key importance for work and life.

Pay parity

Women and men are entitled to receive equal pay for the same kind of work. Migros operates a system to guarantee pay parity.

Years before the law on equality came into effect, Migros implemented the GFO system M-FEE, which guarantees across-the-board pay parity and is today applied by many business enterprises, cantons and cities (including  Swisscom, Swiss Post, Swiss Railways SBB, the insurer Suva, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich, cantons Basel, Lucerne, Vaud, Neuchâtel, City of Zurich and Lausanne).

It is based on an analytical job evaluation in which functions are assessed on the basis of generally recognised competence criteria. The function values are integrated directly into the system for setting the function and pay levels. The competence model results in a remuneration that is purely competence based and function-oriented, where neither occupation nor gender have any bearing on the function assessed, but solely the function itself. In addition to function, the method also incorporates salary components based on experience and performance. At Migros, therefore, the principle of “equal pay for equivalent work” has been extended to the principle of “equal pay for equivalent functions, performance and experience”.

Members of staff have also voiced their appreciation of the fact that at Migros, pay parity is not just talked about, it is applied systematically. For them, it is an important but unspectacular issue, because at Migros pay parity nothing new.

Salary growth at Migros

On 1 January 2009 average minimum gross salaries were introduced for employees with vocational training: CHF 4,100 for those with four years’ basis training, 3'900 CHF for those with three years, and 3'800 CHF for those with two years.

This underlines the commitment by Migros, which is the largest private training institution in Switzerland with 3'264 apprentices, to promote professional apprenticeships; this commitment has also earned it the Hans Huber Prize. At the same time, the gross minimum salary for unqualified staff was raised to 3'700 CHF (x13), which is equivalent on an annual basis to a minimum monthly salary of 4'000 CHF. As a result, together with the adjustment of effective salaries by an average of 3%, Migros’ total payroll for the year 2009 increased by 130 million CHF.

These salary adjustments are completely in line with the continuous growth, in nominal and real terms, of salaries at Migros. From 2001 to 2009, salaries at Migros rose by a nominal 20.55%, and in real terms by 10.65%, and the total payroll increased by over 700 million CHF.

A comparison of the growth in nominal and real salaries, as revealed by the Federal Statistical Office up to 2008, shows that in all years the growth in salaries at Migros exceeded that in every other economic sector.