Geneva introduces worlds highest minimum wage - $25 an hour
While Switzerland has no national minimum wage law, Geneva is the fourth of 26 cantons to vote on the matter in recent years
Geneva will reportedly introduce a minimum wage of $25 an hour - believed to be the worlds highest - after 50,000 voters passed the proposal.
Backed by a coalition of labour unions 58% of voters in the canton were in favour of the initiative set the minimum wage, reports the CNN.
The coalition of labour unions approached the initiative with an aim to "fighting poverty, favouring social integration, and contributing to the respect of human dignity."
While Switzerland has no national minimum wage law, Geneva is the fourth of 26 cantons to vote on the matter in recent years after Neuchâtel, Jura and Ticino.
"This new minimum wage will apply to about 6% of the canton's workers as of November 1st," Geneva State Counselor Mauro Poggia told CNN in a statement.
Communauté genevoise d'action syndicale, 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."
The decision was also praised by Michel Charrat, president of the Groupement transfrontalier européen, an association of workers commuting between Geneva and nearby France.
Charrat told The Guardian that the coronavirus pandemic "has shown that a certain section of the Swiss population cannot live in Geneva," and argued that the new minimum wage is "the minimum to not fall below the poverty line and find yourself in a very difficult situation." Charrat didn't return a CNN request for comment.
The Geneva Council of State, the local executive branch, said in an opinion against the measure that the new minimum wage would be "the highest in the world."