i ́m very curious about salaries in Switzerland, is there such a thing like minimum? i heard that there is like a law or something about this - that a person has to get about 3000-3500 chf, and the lower salary for full time job is impossible.
Hi,
My understanding is that there is no minimum wage in Switzerland but some unions have managed to negotiate one for themselves.
I have seen proposals to put it at 3550CHF and 4000CHF but I guess they haven't passed yet.
There is one for domestic helpers though:
http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/rs/221_215_329_4/a5.html
(a google search provides more information, including several pages on this forum)
By the way, the numbers you're talking about are gross, right?
AFAIK there is no minimum, but I've seen some UNIA posters up petitioning for a 4000CHF minimum.
Ok, i ́ll give you an example.
Position: Operations Manager. Well, i don ́t have experience as operations manager but i worked in one company for 5 years as a junior, then senior manager in my home country. What else...
My boss wants me to sit in the office from 8:00 to 17:00 every day. I live in Olten, but my work is in Zug, that means i have travel expenses. Also when i calculate everything- apartment rent,travel expenses, food, other bills for phone, internet, insurance, and so on and so on, i think i should get at least 3000-3500 chf after taxes in this position, so i can survive here. Cause i got an offer for 2500chf...
Well that, to coin a phrase, is taking the piss. Big time. You'd earn considerably more working on a checkout or cleaning.
That ́s why i wanted to find something written black on white about this, because he thinks that if i ́m a foreigner, i don ́t know any rules or laws, so he can fool me..
He isn't breaking any rules
An Operations Manager title may be different things to different employers: An Operations Manager in our company manages 5-10 people, is responsible for mission-critical processes and earns a decent six-figure annual salary. Your description sounds like an Office Manager, which - to me - is a glorified secretary-cum-receptionist.
You may also have to learn a bit about salary negotiations: Why should your travel costs be relevant to your boss ? Assuming that similar talent is available closer to work, why should s/he pay you more just because you need to commute ?
Agree that the offer is not really great for a secretary/receptionist.
There is no minimum wage here. There are Collective Labour Agreements (German is der Gesamtarbeitsvertrag GAV) (French is la convention collective de travail CCT) between the union and the employers associations, which stipulate normal hours worked, extra hours worked during an emergency, overtime payments, sickness payments, holiday. If you work in an industry with a CLA you will normally profit from the agreement and receive the minimum salary.
I strongly recommend a low paid worker to join the union UNIA. http://www.unia.ch/Home.1.0.html?&no_cache=1&L=0 There are many, many, poor employers in Switzerland, and compared to many EU countries, the employment law here is weak. A wage of CHF 22 per hour, brings in CHF 4'000 per month, gross, including holiday pay. Low paid industries are; security, cleaning, farming, workers in retirement homes, shop assistants. Cleaning ladies recently achieved a minimum wage of CHF 18,90 per hour! (CHF 3'180 per month with no holiday payments)
If you employ help in the home you must buy workers' accident insurance and make the social security payments to AHV or AVS.
Do not work for this man. Find another job. Slavery has been abolished.
You will get about CHF 1'800 on social security, to pay for rent, food and clothes, health insurance. So his CHF 2'500 is a very poor offer.
i don ́t say that he has to pay for my travel expenses, but he wants everything without giving anything in return. He wants me to work all day,even sometimes it might be saturday,he want professional attire, and other things, so he should give me normal salary, cause even a cleaning lady earns more i think. It just.. i got a bachelor of law degree, and i ́n my home country i could have a really good serious job, but i dont want to be there, i dont feel like in my place, i need to live abroad,meet multicultural people and so on, im sooo happy that i came here, so i also wanted to find serious job, in the office, thats the place where i imagine myself, business trips and so on...
anyway,what was i talking about... so, i also am a human and i have needs, which i can satisfy with my salary, my needs aren ́t big, i just need simple things, apartment, internet,phone,train ticket, food,buy clothes, especially for job, insurance,and all these stuff costs. So ok, imagine that you dont need to use train to go to work,you dont need to buy clothes,you need only chf for your prepaid card(phone), you dont go to the doctor, you can live at your friends apartment, you use internet only at work, and you need only 300chf for food per month, but that doesnt mean that your empolyer has the right in this case to pay you only 500chf per month...cause my employer was like - you can find apartment for 500chf, food, and other stuff...2500chf will be really enough, so i can offer you only 2500, cause it ́s also hard for me in the beginning...
As Ittigen said, do not, in any circumstances, work for this man. He is taking advantage of you and it is virtually slave labour at that salary. Yes, you might be able to "get by" as you described above, but you'll be letting yourself in for a lifetime of abuse and exploitation if you are prepared to agree to his terms.
This is the same boss who hasn't given you a contract or paid you yet?
Walk away. You deserve better.
I assume this is the same guy who didn't even bother to pay you in your other thread. He obviously thinks you a a fool.
lina0308. Do you have all the correct papers and permits for living in Switzerland?
Yes that ́s the same guy. so i had a verbal agreement that i will get a contract with 2500chf. maybe if would have given me the contract when we agreed, i would have signed it, and no problem, but when i saw that something is not good, i started looking for info about salaries and all this stuff, and i see that he is really mingy...so if i didn ́t signed it and if by any accident he will give me it these days, i will be more strict about this.. you know he is 27y.o., i ́m 25, almost the same age, but sometimes i feel like i ́m grown up,and he is little boy who can ́t take responsibility for his own actions, i have to yell at him like he is my employee..
lina0308, what nationality are you?
how are you affording your rent etc with no wages??
Put another way, do you have the correct papers to live and work in Switzerland?
I ́m Lithuanian. Now i can ́t afford myself anything, i ́m staying at my friends apartment.