The cantonal government had argued the introduction of a statutory minimum wage for people over 18 was a threat to the Fribourg economy.
Keystone-SDA
On Sunday, Swiss voters in canton Fribourg rejected an initiative by the left and workers’ unions calling for the introduction of a minimum wage. In all, 53.54% voted no, with a turnout of 40.6%. The initiative was opposed by the authorities and business circles.
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The legislative initiative entitled “For a minimum wage” sought to enshrine in the Employment and Labour Market Act a mandatory minimum wage of CHF23 ($28.65) per hour, or CHF4,000 per month. The initiative committee’s objective was clear: “To enable all employees to earn a living wage”.
The cantonal government, however, took the opposite view, seeing the introduction of a statutory minimum wage for people over 18 as a threat to the Fribourg economy. It considered the initiative to be “extreme”, arguing that the introduction of such an instrument would risk “disrupting the proper functioning of the labour market”.
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Had it accepted the initiative, Fribourg would have become only the sixth canton in Switzerland to introduce a minimum wage, after Neuchâtel, Jura, Geneva, Ticino and Basel-Stadt.
Translated from French with DeepL/gw
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