Listen to this articleVoters in Geneva, Switzerland have launched a brand new minimum wage believed to be the highest in the world.
The Swiss metropolis, which has a voter inhabitants of round 500,000, held a referendum with two-thirds supporting the minimum wage of $53,370 a yr for any employee. This is about $4,510 a month, or $25 per hour.
The modification, which had been rejected by voters twice earlier than in 2011 and 2014, will now come into impact from October 17.
It is hoped that the new wage will deal with poverty, favor social integration, and contribute to the respect of human dignity, in response to the voters.
While Switzerland has no nationwide minimum wage legislation, Geneva is the fourth of 26 cantons to vote on the matter in recent times after Neuchâtel, Jura and Ticino.
Communauté genevoise d’motion syndicale, the umbrella group of unions in Geneva, described the result as “a historic victory, which will directly benefit 30,000 workers, two-thirds of whom are women.”
The determination was additionally praised by Michel Charrat, president of the Groupement transfrontalier européen, an association of workers commuting between Geneva and close by France.
Charrat advised The Guardian that the coronavirus pandemic “has shown that a certain section of the Swiss population cannot live in Geneva,” and argued that the new minimum wage is “the minimum to not fall below the poverty line and find yourself in a very difficult situation.”
The Geneva Council of State, the native government department, stated in an opinion towards the measure that the new minimum wage could be “the highest in the world.”
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