Switzerland Puts World’s Highest Minimum Wage on Ballot

Voters will have their say on whether to boost the rate to 22 francs ($25) per hour.

April 15, 2014

NEW YORK – Bloomberg is reporting the Swiss will vote on a national referendum May 18 that would create a minimum wage rate of 22 francs per hour ($25), or 4,000 francs per month.

And even though 90% of workers in the country already earn more that than per hour, “employers say setting Switzerland’s first national wage floor would push up salaries throughout the economy. When adjusted for currency and purchasing power, it would be the highest minimum in the world.”

However, not all employers are on board. “We couldn’t pay it,” Jasmin Eicher, owner of a shop that sells cards, candles and paper in a Zurich suburb, told the news source. Eicher recently had to let go of an employee who was earning 3,500 francs per month. She’s now working by herself in the store, 10 hours a day, six days a week. Hiring someone to help out at a lower rate would be out of the question at 4,000 francs per month. “Of course I understand about people not earning enough, but not everyone is worth 4,000 francs. Here in Switzerland we’re already so well-off,” she added.

Allpura, the Association of Swiss Cleaning Companies, opposes the minimum wage, saying it would lead to job losses and poor working condition. And large companies such as Nestle, Novartis and Swatch Group AG are also against the measure, saying it would hurt the economy, notes Bloomberg.

“State intervention in the liberal economic system also goes against the market economy principles of our society that have been so successful to date,” Novartis spokesman Dermot Doherty told the news source.

Nestle spokesman Philippe Aeschlimann also commented that the wages of all Swiss employees are above the proposed minimum: “A higher cost of labor would however affect companies in our supply chain and our Swiss customers,” he said.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement