The SVP has tinder on the roof. The reason for this is an initiative of State Councilor Erich Ettlin (60, OW), who wants to cap the cantonal minimum wages. At least if the social partners agree on lower wages in a generally binding collective labor agreement (GAV). This is what traders and employers want, for whom cantonal minimum wages such as in Geneva (23 francs per hour) or Neuchâtel (20 francs) are a thorn in their side.
Actually, the SVP does not want to know anything about cantonal minimum wages. Only: these have just been approved by the people in cantonal votes. And it is precisely such referenda that Ettlin and Co. want. overturn now.
That gets the SVP into trouble. In the National Council, she could tip the scales if the Ettlin Initiative comes to a vote in the upcoming winter session. There must be a narrow exit.
SVPers with links in the boat
Even in the responsible economic committee, the initiative passed with only 11 votes to 10. The Left and Greens opposed the proposal, the bourgeois majority was in favour. The SVP was divided.
Suddenly SVP party chairman Thomas Aeschi (43) and SVP entrepreneur and alderman Magdalena Martullo-Blocher (53, GR) are standing with the boat on the left. The latter reportedly spoke out strongly against the advance. Not without reason, because the initiative not only focuses on referenda, but also attacks federalism – and thus typical SVP values.
Aeschi: “Respect referendums”
“We are actually in conflict,” says group chairman Aeschi to Blick. He explains that he rejects the initiative as follows: “For me, federalism and cantonal referenda take precedence over private sector contracts.” Especially since collective labor agreements would otherwise gain in importance. “I find it difficult when minimum wages or 13th monthly wages are delegated to secret committees.”
Even if the social partners are negotiating a collective labor agreement, the people must be able to decide for themselves about other provisions, says de Zuger. “Even if this leads to stricter rules that we do not like, referenda must be respected. We weigh more heavily on the political argument.”
That the SVP’s credibility as a self-proclaimed guardian of the people’s rights is lost if it does not respect referenda itself should also play a role in the No camp.
Friedli: «Commitment to social partnership»
An accusation that SVP Country Council member Esther Friedli (45) is not satisfied with. She recalls the failure of a popular initiative for a national minimum wage, which was clearly rejected by voters in 2014. “The Swiss people have spoken out in favor of social partnership,” says St. Galler, venting her anger: “The left is now circumventing this referendum with cantonal or even local minimum wages.”
So the unions would want the five and the Weggli at the same time, she says angrily. The GAV and cantonal minimum wages. Friedli sees her yes to the initiative mainly as a “clear commitment to social partnership”. Economic considerations also play a role here. It would be a challenge for companies operating throughout Switzerland if, on the one hand, there was a national general agreement, but different minimum wages applied in the cantons.
Parmelin against it too
It is still unclear which way the pendulum will swing at the SVP faction. “I assume that opinions, like those in the committee, differ half or half,” says Aeschi.
With a yes, however, she would be against her own Bundesrat. SVP Minister of Economic Affairs Guy Parmelin (63) rejects Ettlin’s initiative. “A universally binding collective bargaining agreement does not enjoy the democratic legitimacy enjoyed by a cantonal law,” writes the Vaud resident. If the motion were carried out, the federal government would “overthrow the will of the people at the cantonal level, the federal principles and the constitutional division of powers”.