Swiss voters reject world's highest minimum wage proposal
Switzerland 19th May, 2014
ZURICH, Switzerland - Swiss voters have given an overwhelming thumbs down to defeat a referendum that would have introduced the world's highest minimum wage of $25 an hour.
The Minimum Wage Initiative was proposed by the Swiss Trades Union Confederation. But the proposal for a 22 Swiss franc ($25) minimum was defeated by a 76 percent vote with only 24 percent supporting the proposal, according to Swiss television.
Labor unions had campaigned for months to win public backing for the minimum hourly wage.
Ultimately, Swiss voters registered their doubts at the polls on Sunday, effectively setting an outer boundary for public debates on wage floors $10, yes, but $25 a no go.
Swiss voters last year backed a proposal giving shareholders of publicly traded companies more say on executive pay. A subsequent vote on capping the salaries of the best-paid executives at 12 times those of a company's lowest-paid employees was also rejected.
The proposed minimum wage is considerably higher than elsewhere in Europe, and is more than double the $10 President Barak Obama has sought in the United States. The highest minimum wage currently is $10.66 an hour in Luxembourg.
Switzerland is considered to be one of the world's most prosperous countries in the world. It is home to major international banks and hedge funds and houses big chemical, pharmaceutical and machinery companies, might seem an unlikely venue for a debate on wage disparity.
The vote Sunday showed, however, that most Swiss do not view low wages as a problem.
"A fixed salary has never been a good way to fight the problem," said Johann Schneider-Ammann, the economic minister.
"If the initiative had been accepted, it would have led to workplace losses, especially in rural areas where less-qualified people have a harder time finding jobs. The best remedy against poverty is work."
The Swiss cabinet said it didn't take into account regional and sector differences that might merit different pay.
Switzerland News
http://www.switzerlandnews.net/index...-wage-proposal
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