A proposal to impose minimum wage rules on foreign workers posted to Switzerland has just won partial parliamentary support, but still needs to pass the senate.
Following the lead of Basel City, appetite is growing in Switzerland’s most populous canton for a minimum wage. What are the chances of it being introduced?
The economics minister in Ticino on Wednesday presented a bill to the cantonal parliament proposing to set a minimum wage in the canton for the first time.
The canton of Neuchâtel can go ahead with plans to introduce a minimum wage after Switzerland’s highest court rejected an appeal by opponents of the idea.
On May 18th, Swiss voters clearly rejected the popular initiative for the introduction of a statutory national minimum wage of 4,000 francs per month ($4,465) or 22 francs ($24.50) 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.
Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a proposal to introduce the world's highest minimum wage, which would have guaranteed every worker in one of the world's priciest nations at least $25 an hour.
Surrounded by luxury at the high-end Geneva hotels where she works, Alcina Esteves de Almeida sometimes goes hungry — her salary, while generous by American standards, is not enough to make ends meet in pricey Switzerland.
Swiss citizens are expected to reject a referendum this weekend on whether to introduce the world's highest minimum wage, that would offer each and every worker at least $25 an hour.
Demonstrators carried banners and pickets in support of a proposed minimum wage of 4,000 francs ($4,550) a month at Labour Day rallies in major Swiss cities on Thursday.
A narrow majority of Swiss voters approve an initiative to establish a minimum wage of 4,000 francs ($4,580) a month, according to the results of a new survey released on Sunday.
Switzerland has one of the worst records in Western Europe for gender pay gap, says a report from movehub, a website that provides information for people moving abroad.
Most unions in Switzerland are supportive of a proposal to establish a legal minimum wage but at least one has come out forcefully against the proposal.
A proposed minimum wage of 22 francs an hour ($24.80) would have a damaging effect on Switzerland's job market, says Swiss economics minister Johann Schneider-Ammann, as voters prepare to decide.
Neuchâtel is set to become the first canton in Switzerland to adopt a minimum wage with a rate of 20 francs ($21.75) an hour proposed by the cantonal government.
<p>The Swiss parliament's upper house, the Council of States, wants to implement laws to ensure foreign workers receive the minimum wage and do not fall victim to “wage dumping”.</p>
<p><span lang="EN-GB">Swiss trade unions presented 110,000 signatures to the Federal Chancery on Monday, petitioning for the introduction of a minimum wage.</span></p>
