Strike at Migros AG

3 March 1927 – the only work day in the history of Migros AG that the sales vans didn’t leave the depot. On that day, the unionised drivers went on strike to demand higher wages.

In the early morning of 3 March 1927, all 12 of the Migros AG sales vans stay in the depot. The drivers explain that they are on strike. Migros refuses to negotiate and threatens that anyone who does not return to work within half an hour will be sacked.
Before this incident, there have been two months of negotiations between Gottlieb Duttweiler and the drivers’ trade union, VHTL. Duttweiler wants to replace the drivers’ fixed wages with a commission system. The VHTL demands a fixed wage of CHF340 plus commission, as well as shorter working hours. The negotiations are still taking place when the drivers receive a surprise by post: notice of dismissal and a new contract of employment that does not include any of their demands. They unanimously decide to strike.
The strikers are well prepared: the housewives waiting for the Migros sales vans find a flyer pushed into their hands instead of coffee or pasta. In the afternoon, the cantonal mediation office reports that Migros has agreed to the strikers’ demands and that the working week will be reduced to 56 hours. Migros has even promised, after the company is reorganised, to further reduce the working week to the 48 hours demanded by VHTL. The union newspaper happily reports: “The battle was stopped in the evening, and the next morning the drivers returned to work with their usual discipline.”