SWISS airline cabin crew to get pay rises of up to 18%

ZURICH, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Cabin crew at airline SWISS will get pay rises of 4% to 18% under a new five-year contract agreed at the unit of Deutsche Lufthansa, the two sides said on Thursday.

Rank-and-file members of the kapers union still need to sign off on the terms agreed in negotiations on a collective labour agreement (CLA), but the airline and union leaders hailed the deal that follows accords with SWISS ground and cockpit staff.

“After some very tough negotiations, I am all the more delighted that we have reached agreement on a new CLA that delivers significant benefits for all our cabin crew members, in terms of both their remuneration and the plannability of their private lives,” union official Reto Schmid said.

The monthly starting salary will rise to 4,000 Swiss francs ($4,255) from January, and existing salaries will increase by at least 4% for all salary levels, the company said in a statement.

“All in all, the improvements agreed under CLA23 will cost SWISS some 100 million Swiss francs in additional investment over the next five years,” it said.

($1 = 0.9401 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Michael Shields)