Voters in canton Fribourg reject introduction of minimum wage

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”.

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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