St. Gallen, November 3rd, 2025 – The St. Gallen e-commerce logistics service provider MS Direct and the syndicom trade union have agreed on significant improvements to the fulfillment collective employment contract (CEC). From January 1, 2026, employees will receive above-average wage increases.
The minimum wage in the CEC (level 1) will increase by 2.7%. The other salary levels and all CLA monthly salaries will be increased by 1.5%. These wage increases are significantly higher than the current inflation rate of 0.1% (as at the end of October 2025 compared to the same month of the previous year).
More flexibility for employees and in the event of market changes
E-commerce logistics is in a state of flux. Demand dynamics are increasing, especially during seasonal peaks such as the upcoming Black Friday and Christmas sales, as well as due to fluctuating order volumes during the year. Customers expect ever faster delivery times.
MS Direct is meeting these challenges with a clear focus on the needs of employees: An internal digital shift exchange will be introduced in the first quarter of 2026. Employees will be able to voluntarily and independently book shift extensions or additional shifts and swap shifts. This gives them more personal flexibility. The shift exchange also simplifies planning in the event of fluctuating workloads.
This flexibility benefits employees even more and also allows MS Direct to react more agilely to dynamic order volumes. A real win-win situation.
Proven social partnership continues
MS Direct and syndicom look back on a meanwhile five yearsfive-year partnership back. The CLA, which came into force in 2020, is still the only collective labor agreement in the fulfillment sector and thus continues to set standards in the industry.
Quote from Luca Graf, CEO MS Direct:
“The continuous improvement of our employees’ working conditions is a key concern for us. With the wage increases and the new shift exchange, we are creating even more planning security and flexibility for our team. At the same time, we can respond better to the highly fluctuating requirements in e-commerce.”
Quote from Teresa Dos Santos Lima-Matteo, Head of Sector ICT syndicom:
“syndicom specifically wants to improve working conditions. This wage increase shows that negotiations based on social partnership are also possible in the fast-moving e-commerce sector. This is an important signal for the entire industry.”