As Inequality Grows, Swiss To Vote On Curbing Executive Pay

[n2doc]

by ELEANOR BEARDSLEY
November 22, 2013 4:00 AM

Switzerland may be known for watches, wealth, and secretive bank accounts, but increasingly people feel that not everyone is reaping their share of the country's economic well-being.

So on Sunday, the Swiss will vote on a referendum that would limit a CEO's pay to 12 times that of the company's lowest paid worker.

The youth wing of the Social Democrat Party collected the 100,000 signatures necessary to turn the measure, known as the 1:12 initiative, into a national referendum.


David Roth, head of the party's youth wing, says that 25 years ago Swiss CEOs made six times more than the average worker. Today, they earn more than 40 times as much. Roth says in a country of 8 million, 400,000 workers don't make enough to live on.

"I think we have to change something because otherwise we'll go in a direction like the USA did in the last decade where people get homeless, for example, and other people had millions of dollars," he says. "It's a big problem if you have such inequality in a rich country."

more

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/11/22/246678622/swiss-inequality-is-growing-would-curbing-exec-pay-matter?ft=1&f=1001

[okaawhatever]

1. While I agree in theory, the 12 times the LOWEST paid worker is excessive. They even state in their

numbers that 25 yrs ago Swiss CEO's made six times more than the AVERAGE worker. Today they earn 40 times as much as their AVERAGE worker.
I have to question who is behind this movement. Astro turf maybe? It seems designed to fail. Why not 12 times the AVERAGE workers salary? In a tech company where you have someone with an advanced degree, should that individual only make 12 times what the janitor or secretary does?
Sorry, something is fishy with this proposition. It seems designed to fail so everyone will know how "unpopular" the idea is. Of course, no one knowing that 12 times the lowest worker is far different from 12 times the average worker.