For the past five years, large Swiss companies have been required to analyze the wages they have shed in terms of equality. To mark this anniversary, the coalition against wage discrimination installed an imposing symbolic cake in front of the Berne station. But the atmosphere was far from being celebrated.
A dozen women spoke on Monday in Bern. They denounce persistent wage inequalities based on the latest data from the Federal Statistical Office. Men’s salaries remain an average of 16% higher than those of women. And the share of unexplained inequalities has even increased in recent years. Concretely, in 48% of cases, these differences are not explained either by experience, by training, or by the type of position.
Another observation: more than half of the companies subject to this obligation of wage analysis do not comply with their obligations.
The coalition against wage discrimination, made up of feminist, union and civil society organizations, therefore calls for a revision of the equality law. To illustrate her claims, she installed a dummy birthday cake on the place of the Bern station, each part being engraved with a concrete proposal to revise the equality law.
![The coalition against wage discrimination has installed a dummy birthday cake on the place of the Bern station, each share being engraved with a concrete proposal to revise the law on equality. [KEYSTONE - PETER SCHNEIDER]](https://img.rts.ch/articles/2025/image/cy5czr-28929546.image?mw=1280 "The coalition against wage discrimination has installed a dummy birthday cake on the place of the Bern station, each share being engraved with a concrete proposal to revise the law on equality. [KEYSTONE - PETER SCHNEIDER]")
Tracks to improve the application of the law
To guarantee real salary equality, “all companies, without exception, should be subject to the obligation to analyze wages every four years”, explains Monday in the 12:30 p.m. RTS Valérie Borioli Sandoz, head of equality policy at the Swiss labor union.
It justifies this frequency due to the mobility of employees, around 15% of them change their business each year.
“It is also necessary to provide controls to ensure that the analysis has been carried out, and apply sanctions when companies neglect their legal obligations,” she adds.
The coalition also requires more transparency towards employees, and insists that these measures are long -term. Because the arrangements adopted 5 years ago have a particularity: they are supposed to end in 2032.
Radio subject: Marielle Savoy
Adaptation web: Miroslav Mares
