Swiss voters have rejected the referendum on increasing the minimum length of annual paid holiday entitlement from four to six weeks. They listened to the warnings of government and employers that it could jeopardize the competitiveness of firms and cause layoffs.
The initiative to extend the holiday entitlement guaranteed by the law came from the Travail.Suisse union saying that the four weeks' holiday is not enough to protect employees from stress and health problems caused by the increasing pressure at work. According to Travail.Suisse, the referendum was held at a bad time due to the economic concerns raised by the eurozone crisis and the opponents abused the fear of employees.
The main opponents of the initiative - the Swiss Union of Employers - welcomed the outcome of the referendum. Extension of the holiday entitlement would mean an increase in the already high labor costs in Switzerland according to the union. Swiss companies would have to invest extra 6 billion Swiss francs a year.
Swiss employees now have a legal right to four weeks of holidays. Many companies, however, offer more than the legal minimum so the Swiss have in fact an average of five weeks of holidays. In 2002, they rejected shortening the working week from 42 to 36 hours.
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