History
In July 2000 GATA was founded by dedicated Crossair Groundstaff workers. The original «home union» of Crossair with approx. 100 members had essentially one objective: A Collective Labour Agreement for ground staff.
It was now a question of representing the concerns of 2500 colleagues. But the GATA-committee was soon overburdened by the complexity and effort of the work done as a sideline. Therefore GATA was looking for a strong partner, who was found in Swiss Railway and Transport Association (SEV), the biggest transport union in Switzerland.
On March 1st 2001 SEV and GATA signed a three-year-co-operation treaty, leaving a large amount of autonomy to both partners. Moving closer together was a success, and already in April 2002 a collective labour agreement (CLA) could be signed with the newly founded SWISS.
On expiry of the co-operation treaty GATA was successfully integrated into the SEV in March 2004. At the same time GATA had been extending its activities to other members and companies other than SWISS. At the same time GATA is expanding its sphere of activities to members and companies outside of SWISS, having reached a further benchmark by the integration of PUSH members from 1st July, 2017.
| July 2000 | GATA (Groundstaff Aviation Technics and Administration) founded by members of Crossair |
| April 2002 | GATA signs 1st CLA with SWISS |
| March 2004 | GATA successfully integrated into SEV |
| 30 September 2004 | SWISS cancels CLA for ground staff |
| 28 October 2004 | General foundation meeting of SEV-GATA |
| 14 March 2005 | Protest Campaign: Over 400 people put up a fight against SWISS’ plans to cut jobs and against a deteriorated CLA |
| 31 March 2005 | Agreement with SWISS: CLA-level maintained and improvements negotiated |
| 2005 | SEV-GATA celebrates 5-year anniversary since GATA was founded |
| Nov./Dec. 2005 | The campaign in protest at the wage talks broken down resulted in several hundred protest signatures altogether |
| 2007 | Signing of 3rd CLA with SWISS |
| 2008 | GATA demands supporting measures in the event of outsourcing SWISS Technik to LTSW |
| September 2009 | 1st CLA signed with LTSW |
| February 2010 | LTSW announcing mass layoff in Basle |
| March 2012 | LTSW cancels CLA by end of September 2012 and announces massive job cuts |
| April 2012 | Parts of SR Technics relocated to SWISS |
| December 2012 | SWISS takes part in equal pay dialogue, contract signed |
| 2012 | SWISS takes over Engine Shop from LTSW |
| February 2013 | LTSW closing down for good in Basle, 60 staff affected, 29 taken over by SWISS, CLA could be renewed and social plan applied |
| May 2013 | New SEV-GATA logo disclosed at general meeting |
| December 2013 | SWISS cancels CLA for ground staff by 30 June 2014 |
| 2014 | SEV-GATA strengthened, dozens of new members |
| 2014 | SEV-GATA celebrating its 10th anniversary since it was integrated with the SEV |
| July 2014 | Renewal of SWISS CLA for ground staff |
| May 2015 | SWISS closing down operations at its main base in Basle. The 24 employees affected are guaranteed jobs in Zurich. In case of emergency the social plan plus will be applied. |
| October 2015 | New shift regulations come into effect at SWISS. Moreover, thanks to the intervention of the social partners the measures, shifting AML-license renewal costs over to the employees, were dropped. |
| 2016 | SWISS bursting with success, successful within the Lufthansa Group, plans expansion of the fleet. SEV-GATA claims expansion of ground staff as well. |
| 2017 | SWISS CLA negotiations. The existing CLA is being further developed. |
| July 1st, 2017 | SEV-GATA integrates PUSH staff association with about 500 members. |
May-November 2018: CLA negotiations at Swissport and SBS in Zurich.
From March 2020: The coronavirus pandemic severely restricts air traffic. SEV-GATA campaigns for short-time working compensation and federal aid, the federal government provides SWISS with guarantees for bank loans. In March 2021, SEV-GATA concludes a crisis CLA with SWISS. Nevertheless, SWISS carries out mass redundancies from May. This leads to staff shortages as soon as more flights are flown again – until today.
11 September 2020: 1,500 people protest at Zurich Airport against the worsening of the Swissport CLA. A "crisis CLA" is then reached in December.
October 2020 to July 2021: No contract at Swissport Geneva, followed by layoff notices and months of staff mobilisation. Only after a strike on 14 July 2021 and thanks to the mediation of the Canton of Geneva is a crisis CLA possible. A new CLA is concluded in March 2022.
23 July 2022: More than 200 Swissport employees protest again in Kloten. In October, the staff accept a new CLA.
2023: After an excellent wage settlement at SWISS for 2023 and additional wage improvements for technical staff, the 2024 wage negotiations at SWISS are difficult, as they are at Swissport. At Swissport Geneva, the staff general meeting approves two new CLAs (one each for permanent employees on monthly wages and hourly-paid support staff), which in particular bring a significant pay rise.