Geneva shows the way to respect human dignity with the world’s highest minimum wage
The Swiss city of Geneva is to introduce a minimum wage of 23 Swiss Francs ( £19,31 / $25) per hour in the Western canton and makes it the fourth Swiss canton to have approved a minimum wage believed to be the highest minimum wage in the world.
According to Swiss government data, 58 per cent of voters in the canton were in favour of the initiative set the minimum wage at 23 Swiss Francs an hour which was baked by a coalition of labour unions and aimed at “fighting poverty favouring social integration and contributing to the respect of human dignity”.
Geneva is the fourth of 26 cantons to vote on the matter in recent years after Neuchatel, Jura and Ticino.
“This new minimum wage will apply to about 6 per cent of the canton’s workers as of November 1st.” Geneva State Counsellor Mauro Poggia said.
“ It is a historic victory which will directly benefit 30, 000 workers, two-thirds of whom are women” Michel Charrat, President of the Groupement Tranfrontalier communaute genevoise d’ation syndicate ( the umbrella organisation of the Groupenent Transfrontalier europeen an association of workers commuting between Geneva and nearby France) said.
“ On 27 September, a new vote on this subject was finally accepted for a salary of 23 Swiss Francs per hour, or slightly more than 4, 000 Swiss Francs per month fro an activity of 41 hours per week,” Poggia added which is roughly £3, 360 per month.”
Geneva is the 10th most expensive city in the world according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 20120 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey.
Switzerland is among the wealthiest nations in the world.