Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • Global cities
    • Strategic autonomy
    • War in Ukraine
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter
  • Membership

After The Swiss Minimum Wage Referendum

Andreas Rieger 22nd May 2014

Andreas Rieger, Swiss Minimum Wage Referendum

Andreas Rieger

On 18 May 2014, Swiss voters clearly rejected the popular initiative for the introduction of a statutory national minimum wage of CHF 4000 per month respectively CHF 22 (Euro 18) per hour. The initiative was launched by the Swiss Trade Union Confederation (SGB-USS) which collected enough signatures to force the Swiss government and parliament to hold a binding popular ballot on its proposal.

The proposition was branded, somewhat disingenuously, as a call for the “world’s highest minimum wage”. In actual fact, however, it would have lifted Switzerland’s low income earners only to a level of 61% of the country’s median income. In addition, the proposed amount also appears bigger than it really is, if one considers the exceptional strength of the Swiss Franc as well as the country’s extremely high living costs.

Switzerland’s trade unions are therefore very disappointed about the voters’ rejection of the minimum wage initiative. The opportunity of abolishing low wages in rich Switzerland and putting a stop to wage dumping was missed. Thanks to the popular initiative, however, the trade unions have succeeded in setting CHF 4000 as a benchmark for a fair minimum wage. All Swiss trade unions will now continue to do their utmost to fight low wages and wage dumping through collective employment agreements.

The bone of contention was not so much the entitlement to a minimum wage of CHF 4000, but its enshrinement in law. So the ‘No’ to the initiative should not be interpreted as a ‘No’ to fair pay per se. A large number of companies as well as entire sectors have announced their intention to raise minimum wages to the level demanded by the initiative. They include hard-nosed discounters such as Aldi and Lidl as well as fashion & shoe retail chains (H+M, Bata) and florists’ and bakers’ associations. The new collective employment for carers of senior citizens also provides for minimum hourly rates of CHF 22 (for 13-month salaries). These increases would not have been possible without the initiative, and thanks to the initiative thousands will enjoy a wage increase.

During the campaign, representatives of companies, employers’ associations and even the Swiss Minister of Economics repeatedly sang the praises of the “proven social partnership”, citing it as the appropriate channel for fixing minimum wages. The Unions will hold them to their word. They will intervene in cases where companies and associations have not yet signed any collective employment agreement and urge them to launch negotiations without delay. In sectors which do not recognise any contractual minimum wage, such as the hospitality, cleaning and industrial sectors, the unions will work to ensure that they raise the minimum wage to CHF 4000 or more.


Become part of our Community of Thought Leaders


Get fresh perspectives delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter to receive thought-provoking opinion articles and expert analysis on the most pressing political, economic and social issues of our time. Join our community of engaged readers and be a part of the conversation.

Sign up here

Andreas Rieger

Andreas Rieger is National Secretary of the Swiss trade union Unia.

You are here: Home / Politics / After The Swiss Minimum Wage Referendum

Most Popular Posts

Russia,information war Russia is winning the information warAiste Merfeldaite
Nanterre,police Nanterre and the suburbs: the lid comes offJoseph Downing
Russia,nuclear Russia’s dangerous nuclear consensusAna Palacio
Belarus,Lithuania A tale of two countries: Belarus and LithuaniaThorvaldur Gylfason and Eduard Hochreiter
retirement,Finland,ageing,pension,reform Late retirement: possible for many, not for allKati Kuitto

Most Recent Posts

OECD,inflation,monetary The OECD and the Great Monetary RestrictionRonald Janssen
prostitution,Europe,abolition Prostitution is not a free choice for womenLina Gálvez Muñoz
Abuse,work,workplace,violence Abuse at work: who bears the brunt?Agnès Parent-Thirion and Viginta Ivaskaite-Tamosiune
Ukraine,fatigue Ukraine’s cause: momentum is diminishingStefan Wolff and Tetyana Malyarenko
Vienna,social housing Vienna social-housing model: celebrated but misusedGabu Heindl

Other Social Europe Publications

strategic autonomy Strategic autonomy
Bildschirmfoto 2023 05 08 um 21.36.25 scaled 1 RE No. 13: Failed Market Approaches to Long-Term Care
front cover Towards a social-democratic century?
Cover e1655225066994 National recovery and resilience plans
Untitled design The transatlantic relationship

ETUI advertisement

The future of remote work

The 12 chapters collected in this volume provide a multidisciplinary perspective on the impact and the future trajectories of remote work, from the nexus between the location from where work is performed and how it is performed to how remote locations may affect the way work is managed and organised, as well as the applicability of existing legislation. Additional questions concern remote work’s environmental and social impact and the rapidly changing nature of the relationship between work and life.


AVAILABLE HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Eurofound Talks: does Europe have the skills it needs for a changing economy?

In this episode of the Eurofound Talks podcast, Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound’s research manager, Tina Weber, its senior research manager, Gijs van Houten, and Giovanni Russo, senior expert at CEDEFOP (The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training), about Europe’s skills challenges and what can be done to help workers and businesses adapt to future skills demands.

Listen where you get your podcasts, or for free, by clicking on the link below


LISTEN HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

The summer issue of the Progressive Post magazine by FEPS is out!

The Special Coverage of this new edition is dedicated to the importance of biodiversity, not only as a good in itself but also for the very existence of humankind. We need a paradigm change in the mostly utilitarian relation humans have with nature.

In this issue, we also look at the hazards of unregulated artificial intelligence, explore the shortcomings of the EU's approach to migration and asylum management, and analyse the social downside of the EU's current ethnically-focused Roma policy.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI European Collective Bargaining Report 2022 / 2023

With real wages falling by 4 per cent in 2022, workers in the European Union suffered an unprecedented loss in purchasing power. The reason for this was the rapid increase in consumer prices, behind which nominal wage growth fell significantly. Meanwhile, inflation is no longer driven by energy import prices, but by domestic factors. The increased profit margins of companies are a major reason for persistent inflation. In this difficult environment, trade unions are faced with the challenge of securing real wages—and companies have the responsibility of making their contribution to returning to the path of political stability by reducing excess profits.


DOWNLOAD HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us

RSS Feed

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube