Minimum wages are one of the most contentious issues in Swiss labour policy, exposing tensions between Switzerland’s federal government and the cantons over who should determine pay.
Trade unions and left-wing parties have now launched a federal referendum against legislation that would give sectoral collective labour agreements1 precedence over cantonal minimum-wage laws. The reform, approved by parliament during its summer session, is an attack on low-paid workers, women and Swiss federalism, campaigners argue. The canton of Neuchâtel has also called for a referendum.
The legislation would allow minimum wage rates negotiated in collective labour agreements to override statutory minimum wages enacted by the cantons. Unions said the measure would weaken protections for low-paid workers.
The unions argue that sectors such as hospitality, catering and cleaning would be hardest hit. They note that some collective agreements contain no automatic inflation adjustment and warn that, in cantons and municipalities where statutory minimum wages have been approved but have yet to enter into force, tens of thousands of workers could lose the expected benefit of higher wage floors.
The referendum committee also argues that the reform would disproportionately affect women, who account for roughly two-thirds of workers in minimum wage jobs. It says minimum wages have helped narrow the overall gender pay gap—rather than pay differences between men and women doing the same job—and that weakening them would undermine those gains.
Campaigners further argue that the reform would place downward pressure on wages more generally while undermining Swiss federalism by overriding minimum wages approved through cantonal and municipal democratic processes. The campaign is backed by unions including Travail.Suisse and the Swiss Public Service Union, as well as the Socialist Party and the Greens.
Cédric Wermuth, co-president of the Socialist Party, told RTS the reform is an assault on direct democracy, arguing that allowing collective agreements to override democratically enacted cantonal laws would be unconstitutional.
The Federal Council also opposed the bill during the parliamentary process. It argued that the reform conflicts with the cantons’ constitutional power to set statutory minimum wages. Guy Parmelin, the economy minister, said 25 cantons rejected the proposal during the consultation.
Supporters of the reform take the opposite view. They argue that the growing number of cantonal and municipal minimum-wage initiatives has increasingly encroached on collective bargaining between employers and trade unions. In their view, legislation is needed to clarify the hierarchy between collectively negotiated wage agreements and statutory minimum wages and to preserve the role of collective bargaining.
Employer organisations in hospitality, catering and cleaning have generally argued that minimum wages should be set through sectoral collective labour agreements rather than cantonal laws. GastroSuisse, for example, points to the hospitality sector’s nationwide generally binding agreement, which sets minimum pay by qualification and job category and includes other employment conditions. Employers say this system preserves Switzerland’s tradition of social partnership, avoids a patchwork of cantonal rules and gives businesses greater legal certainty.
Cleaning-sector employers make a similar argument, saying sector-specific agreements are better able to reflect industry conditions than statutory wage floors set by individual cantons. Their position is not necessarily opposition to minimum wages as such, but opposition to cantonal minimum wages overriding generally binding collective agreements. In their view, negotiated sectoral wage floors should take precedence because they are tailored to each industry and agreed by employers and unions.
Employer organisations also argue that statutory minimum wages set above collectively negotiated rates could force labour-intensive sectors such as hospitality, catering and cleaning to raise prices, reducing demand and ultimately costing jobs.
1The reform applies only to collective agreements that have been declared generally binding (CCT étendues / allgemeinverbindlich erklärte GAVs).
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