Posted on 05/18/2014 5:33:14 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Swiss voters have rejected a proposal to introduce what would be the highest minimum wage in the world in a referendum, first projections indicate.
Under the plan, employers would have had to pay workers a minimum 22 Swiss francs (about $25; £15; 18 euros) an hour.
Supporters said the move was necessary for people to live a decent life.
But critics argued that it would raise production costs and increase unemployment.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Swiss voters reject Europe’s highest minimum wage
http://www.dw.de/swiss-voters-reject-europes-highest-minimum-wage/a-17643643
Swiss voters have rejected a new minimum wage of 22 Swiss francs (18 euros, $24.66) per hour in a referendum on Sunday, according to projections by Swiss broadcaster SRF. That would have soundly trumped the current highest minimum wage of 11.10 euros per hour in Luxembourg. The German cabinet has plans to implement a minimum wage of 8.50 euros per hour starting in 2015.
The minimum wage in Switzerland was touted by unions and left-leaning political parties, while parties in the current government warned about the effect the minimum wage would have on jobs. Polls ahead of the vote indicated Swiss voters were likely to reject the referendum.
Damn Swiss ray-cysts!
Looks like the majority of Swiss have more common sense than I thought.
I wonder how a referendum like this would play out in the USA... or for that matter , in the individual states...
For those who don’t know, a McDonald’s worker in Denmark makes $21.00/hour ( union negotiated ).
See here:
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/05/15/fight-for-15-try-21/
10 countries that have a higher minimum wage than the United States
http://www.examiner.com/article/10-countries-that-have-a-higher-minimum-wage-than-the-united-states
Japan - $8.17 per hour
Belgium - $9.52 per hour
Canada - $9.75 per hour
United Kingdom - $9.83 per hour
Netherlands - $10.23 per hour
Ireland - $10.81 per hour
Luxembourg - $11.36 per hour
France - $12.09 per hour
New Zealand - $13.50 per hour
Australia -$16.88 per hour
Switzerland’s Minimum Wage Could Jump from $0 to $25 an Hour
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2014/05/17/minimum-wage-25-dollar-proposal-vote-switzerland/
Here in the U.S., there’s been a lot of controversy lately over plans to hike minimum wage levels at the federal, state and city level. But in Switzerland, the federal government is set to make the biggest jump in minimum wage levels in recorded history — going from $0 to $25.13 in 60 seconds (figuratively speaking).
The Swiss vote May 18 on the new minimum wage law, which would in a single stroke double wage levels over the highest rates even being considered in the U.S., create Switzerland’s first national minimum wage, and give Swiss workers the highest hourly minimum wage in the world.
And how high are prices for goods and services in those countries?
The idiots protesting here won’t think about that.
the Gimmies.. dont seem to be very astute when it comes to connecting the dots, do they
One BBC report had the vote as 77% No LOL Reject is an understatement
Of course, the left wing nuts in Switzerland would say that it is needed for a living wage.
We need a ban on liberals along with a ban on ILLEGALS.
Exactly - COLA. We hosted a young man from Switzerland one summer and he was amazed at how cheap food was (this was several years ago) especially meat and even cheese. One would assume that cheese and chocolate would be cheaper in his home country but no. So we fed him lots of meat... mostly barbecued which was his favorite. We have photos of him with stacks of rib bones in front of him, both at home (I make killer ribs) and at Arthur Bryant’s.
“Supporters said the move was necessary for people to live a decent life.
But critics argued that it would raise production costs and increase unemployment.”
…this is what drives me nuts about these articles. This is NOT a matter of opinion. How do you live a “decent life” if you’re unemployed and the cost of goods is out of control? This may as well say…
“Supporters say 2 + 2 = 3”
“But Critics argued it’s 4”
Actually, we need a banishment of minimum wage and the illegals will dry up.
Two reasons why the left-wing minimum wage nonsense doesn’t play well in Switzerland:
1. They have a very strong currency, and a sound economy. Part of the reason why their economy is so sound is that they have very tight immigration controls - meaning that there are jobs for their people because they don’t import “cheap labor.”
2. They have a pretty small national budget compared to the rest of Europe because of the immigration control and their isolationism. Isolationism has many benefits, chief among them that their military spending stays mostly in-country, yielding much higher benefits to their national economy than the kind of military spending the US does, where we’re pissing away rivers of money into foreign countries. eg, all the troops we have stationed in Germany - where are they spending their consumer dollars? In Germany, which benefits the German economy, not our economy.
The same vote held here would probably pass by a comfortable margin, because we have a Federal Reserve that is designed to devalue our currency over time. Therefore the impetus to raise the minimum wage is always there over a period of decades because the spending power of the US dollar has been shrinking over time since the inception of the Federal Reserve. The Swiss Franc? Pretty strong and stable by comparison.
We also need to close off the entitlement freebies.
The measure was OVERWHELMINGLY DEFEATED.
A TV network projection showed that 77% of voters rejected the union-backed measure.
SEE HERE:
http://americanthinker.com/blog/2014/05/swiss_reject_25_per_hour_minimum_wage.html
I like the idea that the PEOPLE get to vote on stuff like that.
...but it ONLY WORKS when the people (as a whole) are somewhat intelligent. So, hopefully, it NEVER happens here.
These two guys weren't greenies or socialists; they were French Swiss one part Arab, one White and were quite aware of the politics in their Country. They would be conservatives if they were American. They also had a sense of what was best for their Country as a whole, more than most of us do.
They enjoyed shooting all my guns off my back porch bench, riding the 4 wheelers, and watching the NHL channel on Dir TV. THey both played hockey and had never seen all the games from 1930's, 1940's. on up to today. No joke, they watched hockey all night long, I went to bed. Good bunch those Swiss.
While I agree, there still is no excuse for not giving American workers a raise to match inflation. When was the last time American workers for a raise? Prices continue to skyrocket, big corporation continue to profit, yet workers wages have stagnated. Its one thing to order people to do something through the law, but it is entirely another to ignore the issue altogether.
what exactly is the Republican plan to raise wages in this country? Amnesty for illegals? Maybe flood the country with more cheap labor so the ruling elite can have their yards mowed and shoes shined and someone there to scream at and kick.
In my view, government should stay out of business. Let the market dictate profits, prices and pay scales. And knock off those exorbitant taxes which punish anyone, individual or business, from getting ahead. I firmly believe that without government meddling, we would all be better off.
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