The Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (SGB/USS) has launched a people’s initiative to establish a national minimum wage. The campaigners have until July 2012 to gather at least 100,000 signatures to force a nationwide vote. “There has been massive pressure on lower and average wages for the past 20 years,” federation president Paul Rechsteiner argued at a press conference. SGB/USS proposes that minimum wages should also be achieved via a general contract, which lays down conditions covering all workers in a particular industry or enterprise (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 3 December 2010).
English: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Unions_launch_minimum_wage ... via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Switzerland
M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS)