Afraid of the CLA?

The CLA has triggered a cultural change," explains Benjamin Kellerhals, President of the Winterthur Conservatory Teachers' Association. Because they have a say in all the important areas, and are involved in the decision-making process, teachers feel a greater sense of solidarity with their music school, and identify with the decisions taken.

Clearly, both employees and employers are very satisfied with this model, so one wonders why more music schools aren't taking a serious look at the issue. Is it because all music teachers in Switzerland are very satisfied with their professional situation and don't want to change anything, is it because they are afraid of jeopardizing their own jobs by announcing to the school management that they wish to enter into negotiations on a CLA, or is it because there is too much respect for the considerable work involved in drawing up such an agreement?
In 2002, the teaching staff at the Zurich Conservatory of Music were awarded a CLA. The NZZ wrote at the time that this CLA could be considered indicative for music schools throughout Switzerland. Following the merger of the Zurich Conservatory with the MKZ School of Music for Young People (under public law), the CLA was cancelled; only music schools organized under private law can have a CLA.

The Winterthur Conservatory has had a CLA since January 1, 2006, and it has worked well to date.

I talk to Hans-Ulrich Munzinger, the former director of the Winterthur Conservatory, during whose term of office the CLA was negotiated.

Mr Munzinger, why did you negotiate a CLA at the Winterthur Conservatory?

Some of the teaching staff have told me that they would like to see such negotiations, so it goes without saying that the music school management must respond. Initial experience has already been gained in Zurich, and the five-year process was supported by the MuV, the SSP and the SSPM. Sibylle Schuppli of the MuV was, together with Martha Gmünder of the SSPM, the initiator of the Zurich CLA, and she was able to bring this experience to the Winterthur negotiations.

Was the hard work worth it? What does the CLA mean for the teaching staff and management of the music school today?

It was well worth it! The negotiation process was already very important. The teaching staff and the school management had to put themselves in the position of their interlocutor: the school management heard all the concerns and problems of the teaching staff, and the latter learned what constraints were imposed by the authorities and politics on the work of the school management.
It was then a matter of convincing each other on all the contentious points, until a consensus was reached. Thanks to the negotiations and the resulting CLA, we were able to achieve a high degree of transparency, resulting in greater satisfaction on both sides.
For example, we've introduced a salary scale based on age. This way, it's clear to everyone who earns how much, and there's no more squabbling over the reasons for each person's classification. - Of course, the question of salaries does not have to be resolved in this way; it's just important to have clear guidelines and absolute transparency.

Does school management still have freedom of action with a CLA?

Of course, there is still some room for manoeuvre, as we also want to shape something. We have deliberately kept the CLA light and settled the details in an "application booklet", in which certain points can be changed more easily with the agreement of management and teaching staff if they are not suitable in practice.
In addition, the school management can always organize additional courses, special events and external presentations of the school.
The teaching staff are also given a great deal of freedom in terms of style and content, and personal artistic activity is explicitly encouraged.

Which points of the CLA are particularly important to you?

There are a few: for example, that during employee interviews, any criticisms be communicated in advance so that the teacher can prepare for the interview. Long-serving teachers should be able to obtain a guaranteed working time for three semesters, based on the average number of hours over the last four semesters. And, most importantly, that teachers are clear about what is included in their expected workload: lesson preparation and follow-up, student concerts, participation in the convention, further training, not forgetting personal instrument practice. This leads to a salary factor of 1.75 teaching hours/working hours.

What happens in the event of a dispute?

The Joint Committee (PaKo) decides. If it fails to reach a result, the case is referred to the authorities' conciliation body, whose decision is binding. Fortunately, we have never had to resort to this. This also shows how well the CLA works.

Thank you very much for this interview!

Dear readers, what is your position on the CLA? The SSPM looks forward to receiving your e-mails at the following address marianne.waelchli@smpv.ch !

As a professional association, the SSPM is there, among other things, to support members wishing to negotiate a CLA at their music school.

Winterthur Conservatory photo © Oliver Pailer