According to employers, the financial position of fast-food companies makes it impossible for them to raise the pay of their employees. Meanwhile, the NGG has signed an agreement covering 8,000 employees of Eurest Deutschland. Most of Eurest's competitors do not, including Pedus, the largest firm in the sector. A new collective agreement for the institutional catering sector The newly negotiated national collective agreement calls for a three-step increase in pay of 5.75 percent over the coming year. It provides for a 10-percent annual reduction in workloads, based on evaluations at the workplace.
Procedures are to be set up for handling work-load related grievances.
Temporary employment contracts must now state the actual number of hours worked. The new agreement also provides for the possibility of early retirement at age 61 with 80 percent of pay. The Swiss unions had been aware for some time that Club M diterran e had failed to pay its Swiss employees the minimum wages to which they were entitled. In most instances, the matter was settled with management and arrears of some EUR 300 to EUR 500 per month were paid to the persons concerned. In Saint-Moritz, however, the employees of two facilities owed by Club Med had to mobilize and even threaten to go on strike before management agreed to the negotiated settlement.