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19-05-2014, 05:00 AM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
Swiss to vote on $25 an hour minimum wage (http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/05/18/swiss-to-vote-on-25-an-hour-minimum-wage/)
http://www.tremeritus.org/simages/dmca_protected_sml_120n.png http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostDateIcon.png May 18th, 2014 | http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostAuthorIcon.png Author: Online Press (http://www.tremeritus.com/author/online/)
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/swiss-standard-of-living-300x193.jpg(GENEVA, Switzerland, 16 May) – A vote on Sunday to
establish a minimum wage of $25 an hour would make mostly immigrants here in
agriculture, housekeeping, and catering among the world’s highest paid unskilled
workforce.
The vote comes after hundreds of fast-food workers walked off their jobs in
many U.S. cities and in more than 30 countries on Thursday in a protest for
higher wages. If the Swiss proposal passes, the country would have the highest
minimum wage in the world.
But some who would be eligible for the higher wage worry that it may do more
harm than good.
Luisa Almeida is an immigrant from Portugal who works in Switzerland as a
housekeeper and nanny. Almeida’s earnings of $3,250 a month are below the
proposed minimum wage but still much more than she’d make in Portugal.
Since she is not a Swiss citizen, she cannot vote but if she could, “I would
vote ‘no’,” she says.
“If my employer had to pay me more money, he wouldn’t be able to keep me on
and I’d lose the job.”
Almeida’s concern illustrates the dilemma that faces the movement to have
governments and not the market decide how much people should be paid at a
minimum.
Forcing employers to hike wages means they must cut expenses to accommodate
the higher labor costs. That often means less hiring, or some firing.
But Patrick Belser, Senior Economist in the Wage Group of the International
Labor Office in Geneva says the initiative could work.
“International experience has shown that minimum wages can prevent labor
exploitation without any negative effect on the economy,” he said.
Yet, Besler worries that a minimum wage of $4,500 a month “is probably a
little too high.
“If it is accepted, the effects on employment would have to be carefully
monitored, and a mechanism for social dialogue should be created to discuss its
effects and possible future adjustments of the rate,” he said.
Currently, Switzerland does not have a minimum wage law. Industry-specific
pay scales are determined by employment contracts or collective bargaining
agreements between employers and trade unions. However, 90% of Swiss workers
earn well above the proposed minimum and are already among the highest paid in
the world.
According to government statistics, the average household income in
Switzerland is about $6,800 a month; in the USA, where the minimum wage is
currently $7.25 an hour, the average household monthly income is roughly $4,300,
Census Bureau figures indicate.
Referendums are a unique feature of Switzerland’s unique brand of social
democracy, which gives citizens the power to shape policy over the government.
Any individual or group can challenge existing legislation or force a vote on a
new issue by collecting 100,000 signatures on a petition.
More in:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...-wage/9166687/ (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/05/16/swiss-minimum-wage/9166687/)
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?181898-Swiss-to-vote-on-25-an-hour-minimum-wage&goto=newpost).
Swiss to vote on $25 an hour minimum wage (http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/05/18/swiss-to-vote-on-25-an-hour-minimum-wage/)
http://www.tremeritus.org/simages/dmca_protected_sml_120n.png http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostDateIcon.png May 18th, 2014 | http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostAuthorIcon.png Author: Online Press (http://www.tremeritus.com/author/online/)
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/swiss-standard-of-living-300x193.jpg(GENEVA, Switzerland, 16 May) – A vote on Sunday to
establish a minimum wage of $25 an hour would make mostly immigrants here in
agriculture, housekeeping, and catering among the world’s highest paid unskilled
workforce.
The vote comes after hundreds of fast-food workers walked off their jobs in
many U.S. cities and in more than 30 countries on Thursday in a protest for
higher wages. If the Swiss proposal passes, the country would have the highest
minimum wage in the world.
But some who would be eligible for the higher wage worry that it may do more
harm than good.
Luisa Almeida is an immigrant from Portugal who works in Switzerland as a
housekeeper and nanny. Almeida’s earnings of $3,250 a month are below the
proposed minimum wage but still much more than she’d make in Portugal.
Since she is not a Swiss citizen, she cannot vote but if she could, “I would
vote ‘no’,” she says.
“If my employer had to pay me more money, he wouldn’t be able to keep me on
and I’d lose the job.”
Almeida’s concern illustrates the dilemma that faces the movement to have
governments and not the market decide how much people should be paid at a
minimum.
Forcing employers to hike wages means they must cut expenses to accommodate
the higher labor costs. That often means less hiring, or some firing.
But Patrick Belser, Senior Economist in the Wage Group of the International
Labor Office in Geneva says the initiative could work.
“International experience has shown that minimum wages can prevent labor
exploitation without any negative effect on the economy,” he said.
Yet, Besler worries that a minimum wage of $4,500 a month “is probably a
little too high.
“If it is accepted, the effects on employment would have to be carefully
monitored, and a mechanism for social dialogue should be created to discuss its
effects and possible future adjustments of the rate,” he said.
Currently, Switzerland does not have a minimum wage law. Industry-specific
pay scales are determined by employment contracts or collective bargaining
agreements between employers and trade unions. However, 90% of Swiss workers
earn well above the proposed minimum and are already among the highest paid in
the world.
According to government statistics, the average household income in
Switzerland is about $6,800 a month; in the USA, where the minimum wage is
currently $7.25 an hour, the average household monthly income is roughly $4,300,
Census Bureau figures indicate.
Referendums are a unique feature of Switzerland’s unique brand of social
democracy, which gives citizens the power to shape policy over the government.
Any individual or group can challenge existing legislation or force a vote on a
new issue by collecting 100,000 signatures on a petition.
More in:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...-wage/9166687/ (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/05/16/swiss-minimum-wage/9166687/)
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?181898-Swiss-to-vote-on-25-an-hour-minimum-wage&goto=newpost).