Swiss voters reject minimum wage of SGD$30/hr

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Minimum wage is too high and it didn't take into account regional and sector differences that might merit different pay. In Singapore, our cleaners don't take home the same wage as our security guards. It doesn't make sense. They have different challenges at work and should be remunerated accordingly.

ZURICH—Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected an initiative that would have introduced the highest minimum wage in the world.

The Minimum Wage Initiative, which had been proposed by the Swiss Trades Union Confederation, was defeated by a 76%-24% vote, according to Swiss television.

The referendum, which would have established a minimum hourly wage of 22 Swiss francs ($25), marked a move by Swiss voters away from legislating compensation. Last year, voters 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 rejected.

Analysts said the rejection of the 1:12 Initiative for Fair Pay likely set the tone for the minimum-wage vote. "I am not surprised the initiative failed, given the rejection of the 1:12 motion," said Patrick Emmenegger, a political scientist at the University of St. Gallen.

The Minimum Wage Initiative came against a backdrop of efforts around the world to raise pay for lower-income workers. Switzerland's plan would have set wages at more than double the $10.10 an hour that U.S. President Barack Obama has proposed for American workers. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing for a minimum wage of €8.50 ($11.64) an hour.

The Swiss cabinet, known as the Federal Council, and both houses of Parliament urged voters to reject the measure, saying it didn't take into account regional and sector differences that might merit different pay. They also said the minimum wage would make it more difficult for low- and unskilled job seekers to find work.

Business lobby Swissmem said state control of pay would be a "flawed experiment" with the potential to undermine collective wage agreements in place in most industry sectors. Opponents also said Switzerland's employment system, which relies heavily on apprentice programs, would be undermined by the minimum wage. The youth unemployment rate in Switzerland is 3%, compared with 23.7% in the surrounding euro zone.

Supporters of the minimum wage expressed concern mainly about women working in the low-paid retailing and catering sectors and in unregulated industries, such as fitness clubs and call centers.

Daniel Lampart, the chief economist of the Trades Union Confederation, said the minimum-wage initiative had been an ambitious goal and succeeded in raising the issue of low pay in some Swiss business sectors.

Unions said the Swiss economy was strong enough to afford the increased wage, which translated to a monthly salary of about 4,000 Swiss francs. Roughly 90% of Switzerland's workforce of 4.2 million people earns more than 22 Swiss francs an hour, according to the unions.

Switzerland has never had a national minimum wage, though two cantons—Neuenburg and Jura—have approved staggered pay levels.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...058048190.html


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