Swiss pilots write: More free time, less load

Context

In brief

• Over a thousand Aeropers members sign an open letter
• Swiss's new CEA is still under negotiation
• Asked for more free time, less load and market pay
• Swiss calls for costs, competitiveness and tight deadlines

Key Facts

• What → open letter to the management of Swiss
• Who → more than 1000 members of the Aeropers association
• Topic → new collective bargaining agreement
• Demands → better leisure planning, less workload and market-adjusted pay
• Status → negotiations that have been ongoing for some time

ZURICH - More than 1000 members of the Aeropers association have signed an open letter addressed to the management of Swiss. The position comes during the dispute over a new collective employment agreement, the CEA for cockpit staff.

Aeropers recalls in a statement today that negotiations have been underway for some time. At the center are three demands: better planning of free time, less workload and pay appropriate to the market. The letter thus makes the position of the pilots visible while the negotiations remain open.

The Company's Location

According to Thomas Steffen, spokesman for Aeropers quoted in the note, the signatures show the cohesion of the staff and at the same time indicate the urgency of intervention. The association's message therefore links the number of adhesions to the need to achieve results on working conditions.

Swiss's management responded through an internal communication from CEO Jens Fehlinger to the pilots. The manager showed understanding for their requests and indicated that many of the topics raised are also societal issues.

Swiss says that it has been working with Aeropers on new working models for some time and is negotiating intensively on the topics mentioned. However, the company also refers to economic pressure and cost developments.

According to Fehlinger, the new CEA will have to take into account both the needs of pilots and Swiss's long-term competitiveness. His communication also contains a call to accelerate progress. "Time is running out," concludes the CEO.

The available content therefore describes an open dispute, with increasing pressure from the association and a corporate response that acknowledges the issues raised but also recalls costs and competitiveness. An outcome of the negotiations is not announced: the new CEC remains the focus of the confrontation between Swiss and Aeropers.

Operational details

What the negotiation brings into play

For those who work in Switzerland, the dispute compares three dimensions of the employment relationship: the organization of time, the workload of the activity and the remuneration. It is therefore not just a question of economic demand. Aeropers also brings to the table the way in which leisure time is planned and the overall pressure incurred by pilots.

The call for better leisure planning draws attention to the predictability of work organisation. The source does not describe a concrete model, but clearly indicates that time management outside the work is one of the points to be changed according to the pilots. The lower workload concerns the intensity of the activity and is presented as a separate request.

Remuneration adapted to the market opens the third level of discussion. The text does not indicate amounts, increases or a new salary scale. For this reason, the request cannot be transformed into an increase already decided: it remains one of the subjects negotiated in the new CEA.

The balance point for Swiss

The company considers the needs of pilots, but also recalls economic pressure, cost trends and long-term competitiveness. The company's position therefore introduces a double criterion: improving working models and maintaining the company's competitive sustainability. The source does not disclose what solution can reconcile these two objectives.

For the reader, the practical distinction is between the request, the position of the management and the outcome of the negotiations. The letter signals a strong support of the staff, while Swiss's communication shows openness on the issues but does not announce an agreement. The story concerns Swiss and the cockpit staff; it does not allow requests to be automatically extended to other companies or professions.

Anyone who observes the opportunities in the sector can consult the annunci di lavoros, without treating the dispute as a change already applied to employment conditions. The comparison with the aziende che assumonos must also remain separate from the still negotiated content of Swiss's CEA.

Recommended tools

For an updated estimate, use the net salary calculator and the CHF-EUR exchange comparator.

Key points

How to follow developments

The source does not set a timetable for the new CEA. However, it indicates that negotiations are continuing and that Swiss's management is urging progress. To read the upcoming updates correctly, it is advisable to follow a simple procedure and not confuse requests with decisions that have already been taken.

Four useful steps

1. Separate the documents. The open letter represents the position of the Aeropers members who signed it; the internal communication expresses the point of view of Swiss's management. They are two different messages within the same dispute.

2. Write down the three requests without adding details: better time off planning, less workload, and pay appropriate to the market. The source does not provide amounts, new operating rules, or a definitive timetable.

3. Check the status of the negotiations before talking about changes. As long as the new CEA is described as being negotiated, pilots' demands should not be presented as conditions that have already come into force.

4. Compare your professional interest with actually available data. If you work or evaluate a job in the sector, you can distinguish your situation from the collective declarations and observe any communications from Swiss or Aeropers separately.

This reading avoids two opposite mistakes: considering the letter a concluded agreement or ignoring the signal given by more than 1000 signatures. For the salary part, it is preferable to use only the amount that you know personally and not to attribute to the dispute figures that the source does not report.

To assess the effect of different pay on your balance sheet, use calcolatore stipendio.

Source: tio.ch