Swiss say no to world’s highest minimum wage

Voters in Switzerland have rejected plans for a nationwide minimum wage. At CHF22 ($25) an hour, the limit would have been the highest in the world.

In Sunday's nationwide vote 76.3% of voters were against the initiative. Voter turnout was 55.5%.
 
Under the  initiative, someone on a minimum wage in Switzerland would have earned double the rate in Britain or the United States. Although high, the Swiss limit was set against the country's high cost of living, where the median hourly wage is around CHF33.
 
Luxembourg currently has the top 'real' minimum wage at $10.70 an hour, when adjusted for purchasing power, and the Swiss wage would have been comfortably ahead of that at $14. (See infobox)
 
The country's biggest trade union umbrella group had pushed the initiative to a vote, arguing a nationwide limit would entitle everyone to a "decent rate of pay". In the grander scheme of things, they said the change would help reduce poverty and fight wage dumping, where firms bring in workers from abroad but pay them less.
 
The Trade Union Federation had the backing of the Social Democrats and the Greens. But opponents – most political parties, the government and the business community – argued it would be tantamount to state interference in a free market economy and could prove counterproductive, forcing firms to cut costs by killing some low paid jobs.

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