Conditions of employment for new recruits/assistants/reinforcements in professional orchestras/ensembles in Switzerland

The Swiss Musicians' Association (SMV) is the Swiss trade union for musicians and has united the members of Swiss professional orchestras as well as freelance and independent professional musicians since 1914.

The Swiss orchestral and ensemble landscape is very diverse and, in addition to the 13 full-time professional orchestras, includes a large number of professional part-time/project orchestras and ensembles of all kinds, which are important employers of the many freelance professional musicians in Switzerland and would not exist without them.

The SMV has collective employment contracts with the full-time orchestras that guarantee good working conditions for permanent orchestra members[1].

The employment conditions of new recruits (temporary staff, reinforcements) in these orchestras are governed by the collective agreement between the SMV and the orchester.ch employers' association.

For the remuneration of services provided by musicians who are not subject to the orchester.ch-SMV collective agreement or a CLA with different provisions, the SMV has issued tariff regulations with minimum rates for the entire territory of Switzerland. From the SMV's point of view, these represent the minimum compensation required to enable professional musicians, most of whom have a university education, to earn a decent, albeit modest, living. The SMV therefore demands that all professional part-time/project orchestras and ensembles comply with the tariff regulations.

Unfortunately, this is not the case in many places, and since the pandemic we have observed a further deterioration in this respect in many cases. The willingness to respect professionals in the music sector on an equal footing with those from other industries in terms of pay seems to be declining further. There is no other way to explain how it is possible today that orchestras financed by lottery subsidies and well-known sponsors in the most expensive Swiss cities advertise for professional musicians, offering them CHF 125 for a three-hour rehearsal and CHF 150 for a three-hour concert. No compensation for expenses, not even the obligatory vacation allowance according to Art. 329ff OR. For highly qualified work by professionals with a university degree, which includes the prior individual rehearsal of the works to be played, the purchase and maintenance of sometimes very expensive instruments and much more[2].

The SMV has pointed out such low-wage employers for years in writing and verbally and has not even received an answer in most cases. We therefore feel compelled to transparently disclose the wage landscape in Switzerland, as we cannot tolerate such disrespect, which is sometimes even carried out with taxpayers' money.

In the meantime, the federal government also wants to "guarantee appropriate compensation for cultural workers and improve their working conditions and equal opportunities" with the Cultural Dispatch 2025-2028.[3] The National Cultural Dialogue (NKD), which brings together the Confederation, cantons and cities, has also presented recommendations on the compensation of artists in Switzerland. In it, the NKD "appeals to the collective responsibility of cities/municipalities, cantons and the Confederation to strengthen the professionalization and recognition of the work of cultural professionals, on the one hand by complying with, applying and enforcing the present recommendations on the correct remuneration of cultural professionals and, on the other hand, by pursuing efforts to improve their economic and legal situation."[4]

Since the beginning of March 2025, the SMV has written to all professional part-time orchestras and ensembles known to us, asking them to inform us of the rates applied in each case or to confirm information from musicians that we have received. Some provided us with this information, others did not even after the third letter. Still others told us that they were unwilling to do so - for various reasons - or that they rejected our approach. For this reason, the tariff traffic light map currently contains those orchestras/ensembles that have either provided information themselves or for which we have up-to-date data from musicians. Missing orchestras/ensembles will be added later.

The full-time professional orchestras were also contacted and asked to confirm that they comply with all points of the applicable collective agreement. This is firstly because a tariff traffic light map of Switzerland would be incomplete without these most subsidized orchestras and unfair to the others, and secondly because we have been receiving reports of systematic violations of individual elements of the collective agreement for some time.

Tariff traffic light map

This section shows how newcomers are compensated in the various orchestras and ensembles in Switzerland. A distinction is made between:

• Full-time professional orchestra(members of orchester.ch): These orchestras must adhere to the collective agreement between orchester.ch and the SMV. If they do so in all areas of 100%, they are colored green, if not, red. They are identified by a completed Circle
• Professional part-time orchestras/ensembles: The SMV requires these orchestras/ensembles to comply with tariff scale A (minimum rates). If the weighted assessment shows 100% or more tariff compliance, they are colored green, between 75 and 99% orange, below 75% red. They are indicated by a completed Rhombus

Weighting for professional part-time orchestras

In recognition of the fact that the adequate funding of professional orchestras is no easy task, the most common central elements in the area of performance fees, such as rehearsals and performances, are weighted much more heavily than less frequently applied elements such as overtime. Similarly, travel time compensation and all elements in the area of expense allowances are weighted comparatively low.

The performance fees for rehearsals and performances (Tariff Schedule A, section 1a) as well as the voice leader/secondary instrument allowances (Tariff Schedule A, section 1b) are weighted fourfold, all other elements of Tariff Schedule A are weighted single. Calculation examples can be found on the website below.

General information

A + in the icon means that the orchestra/ensemble in question offers benefits that go beyond the collective agreement or collective agreement regulation A, e.g. sick pay.

All information comes from the respective orchestras or musicians. The respective source is indicated. All orchestras/ensembles were asked to confirm or correct the existing data. Some took this opportunity, others did not, even after being invited three times.

In the event of incorrect information, we ask the orchestra/ensemble concerned to send us the correct information immediately. The same applies to newcomers who notice discrepancies with the pay slips of the orchestra/ensemble in question.

Tariff traffic light map: https://smv.ch/de/services/calculator/rates/smv-tarifampel

[1] For historical reasons, the vpod is the contractual partner of the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and the SMV and vpod are joint contractual partners of the Basel Symphony Orchestra.

[2] Further information can be found here: https://smv.ch/de/services/calculator/ In general, it can be assumed that a three-hour orchestra service requires at least another three hours for individual preparation. This results in 6 hours of work, which in the case of the orchestra mentioned results in an hourly wage of CHF 21-25, without taking travel time into account.

[3] Federal Council press release dated 1.3.2024: https://www.news.admin.ch/de/nsb?id=100259

[4] https://www.bak.admin.ch/bak/de/home/themen/nationaler-kulturdialog.html