The union of Swiss Vegetable Producers (VSGP) and the 'Schweizer Bauernverband' (SBV) are guarding themselves against the minimum wage initiative, reports the Swiss website Schweizerbauer.ch. This initiative could make labour in Switzerland so much more expensive that extra vegetables would have to be imported.
A minimum wage of 22 Swiss francs per hour (18.07 Euro) would paralyze the season dependent and labour intensive vegetable branch. The extra labour costs would not be viable for the companies and would only benefit unschooled employees. It lessens the drive to study and gain qualifications, is the sum of the press conference held by the VSGP and the SBV together in Bern last Monday.Nadja Pieren, president of the vegetable producers unions for the regions Bern and Freiburg, emphasized that a minimum wage, established by law, of 22 Swiss francs per hour would result in the vegetable prices inevitably rising by around 25%. She wonders whether the consumers and buyers would be prepared to pay this. She is afraid that if the initiative were to be accepted, the consumers would stop buying Swiss products, and the import of foreign vegetables from countries will bad social conditions and lower wages would increase. There would also be less jobs in the agricultural industry and the stimulation to become a grower would decrease.