It is always a bad idea to agree to play the "you first" game, as you found out.

Anyway, it may be that the company has some sort of works council. This is very common in Germany, less so in Switzerland, and I believe they have less power in Switzerland too. The point I was coming to was that they may have to run new hires by the works council to make sure people aren't exploited, so maybe they have forced them to pay more.

By the way, you know you will be the only KFC in Switzerland, right?