Editor in chief at IamExpat Media
The Swiss National Council has passed a measure that would overturn cantonal minimum wages implemented via referendums, despite strong opposition from the Federal Council and 25 of the Swiss cantons.
On Tuesday, June 17, the right-leaning National Council voted through a measure - known as the Ettlin measure, after the Council of States member Erich Ettlin, who introduced it - that would give priority to minimum wages provided by generally binding collective labour agreements, over minimum wages introduced at the cantonal level.
Critics of the Ettlin measure, such as the left-green parties, are saying it will see cantonal minimum wages - which have so far been established by referendums in Neuchâtel, Jura, Geneva, Basel-Stadt, and Ticino - overturned. They are therefore describing it as an attack on Switzerland’s enshrined tradition of direct democracy.
Those in favour of the Ettlin measure say that cantonal minimum wages create a patchwork of rules and that higher cantonal minimum wages undermine collective bargaining agreements and forestall partnerships between employers’ associations and unions. During the debate, Marcel Dobler of the FDP/SG said that minimum wages destroy jobs and prevent people from entering the job market, the Berner Zeitung reports.
Ultimately, the measure was passed by 109 to 76 votes, despite the fact that it received strong opposition from all of the cantons, apart from Obwalden, and every trade union during the consultation process. Even the Federal Council said that the measure violated the Federal Constitution and the fundamental principle of the division of powers between the federal government and the cantons.
In a press release, the SP accused the centre-right parties of “acting not only undemocratically, but also irresponsibly”. Co-president Cédric Wermuth said his party would fight the law “with all means at its disposal - if necessary with a referendum”.