Voters in Geneva, Switzerland, have agreed to introduce a minimum wage in the canton that is the equivalent of $25 an hour, which is believed to be the highest in the world.
According to government data, 58% of voters in the canton were in favour of the initiative set the minimum wage at 23 Swiss francs an hour, which was backed by a coalition of labour unions and aimed at “fighting poverty, favouring social integration, and contributing to the respect of human dignity.”
Geneva State Counselor Mauro Poggia told CNN in a statement that “This new minimum wage will apply to about 6% of the canton’s workers as of November 1st.”
The umbrella organization of unions in Geneva described the result as “a historic victory, which will directly benefit 30,000 workers, two-thirds of whom are women.”
There is a system in Swiss direct democracy which calls for voters to exercise their right four times a year, and allows citizens to collect signatures to introduce “popular initiatives” to be enacted. There have been two occasions in the past where initiatives to set a mandatory minimum wage in Geneva had been submitted to the population and rejected.
A new vote on the subject was finally accepted on 27 September for a salary of 23 Swiss Francs per hour, or slightly more than 4,000 Swiss Francs per month for an activity of 41 hours per week.
Geneva is the 10th most expensive city in the world according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2020 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey. The city is a French-speaking part of Switzerland and is the second most populous city in Switzerland after Zürich.
In 2019, Geneva was ranked among the 10 most liveable cities in the world by Mercer together with Zürich and Basel.
