As explained in a previous article by the undersigned author, Articles 356 to 358 of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO) establish collective labour agreements (CLAs). Through a collective agreement, employers or employers’ associations, on the one hand, and workers’ associations, on the other, jointly establish provisions regarding the conclusion, subject matter and termination of individual employment contracts between the employers and workers concerned. The agreement may also contain other provisions, provided they relate to relations between employers and employees; it may even be limited to such provisions (Art. 356 CO).
Collective labour agreements generally contain provisions on wages, the 13th month’s salary, payment of wages in the event of illness, maternity leave and during military service, holidays, working hours, etc.
Collective labour agreements may be extended. Extending the scope of application makes a CLA applicable to all employers and all employees within an economic sector or profession, including those who do not belong to any workers’ organisation.
As explained in the previous article, as of 1 July 2023, Switzerland had 45 extended national collective agreements.
Some of these extended national collective agreements set minimum wages, meaning minimum wages that apply to all jobs within a particular economic sector or profession in Switzerland.
Indeed, unlike some neighbouring countries, Switzerland does not have a federal minimum wage – that is, minimum wages that apply to all employees in Switzerland.
Therefore, apart from in cases where a collective agreement is extended and in certain sectors or professions, there is no Swiss ‘federal’ minimum wage.
Some cantons have, however, decided to go further and have introduced a cantonal minimum wage.
This is particularly the case in the cantons of Neuchâtel, Jura, Geneva, Ticino, Lucerne and Basel-Stadt. These minimum wages were introduced following the acceptance of cantonal popular initiatives.
The debate is also ongoing, or initiatives have been tabled, in several other cantons, such as the canton of Vaud, and even in certain cities, such as the city of Zurich.
In sectors where there is a collective labour agreement (CLA) with extended coverage that provides for a minimum wage, the following questions arise in particular:
The cantons that have minimum wages each apply different rules in this regard.
In Geneva, for example, the cantonal minimum wage takes precedence. You must usually work in the canton of Geneva to be entitled to the cantonal minimum wage. By ‘usually’, this means exclusively, mainly or regularly. Other cantons, by contrast, stipulate that the extended collective agreement and the wage set therein take precedence.
At its sitting on 17 March 2026, following the National Council, the Council of States decided by 27 votes to 15 that the minimum wages set in extended collective agreements should take precedence over cantonal minimum wages. Thus, if a cantonal minimum wage is set, for example, at CHF 25.00 per hour but an extended collective agreement provides for a wage of CHF 23.00 per hour, it is this wage of CHF 23.00 per hour that applies.
This decision by the Council of States was taken against the advice of the Federal Council.
The Council of States has, however, adopted a “grandfather” clause. Consequently, cantons which have decided, such as Geneva or Neuchâtel, that their cantonal minimum wages take precedence, will be able to retain this system.
The undersigned author does not intend to take a view on whether the Council of States’ decision is justified or not, nor does she comment on the merits of giving precedence to an extended collective agreement over a cantonal rule.
The Council of States’ decision does, however, certainly have the merit of establishing a uniform rule for the whole of Switzerland, which may be simpler to apply for employers operating in several cantons and subject to an extended collective agreement.