Photograph courtesy of epSos
Swiss voters have rejected a proposal to cap the salaries of top executives at 12 times that of a company’s lowest wage.
66 percent of people voted against the “1:12 initiative for fair pay”, heeding warnings by leaders of industry that such a move would have a negative impact on the Swiss economy. They claimed that it would prevent firms from being able to pay the high salaries needed to attract skilled staff, forcing companies and their tax contributions elsewhere.
The youth wing of the Swiss Social Democrats (JUSO) proposed the initiative, and found the 100,000 signatures needed to put the proposition to a referendum. However, the initiative failed to find sufficient support from the wider population like proposals to cut the hours in a working week or extend holidays which also failed on the belief that they were “anti-business”.
