

 Swiss to vote on linking bosses' pay to wage of office cleaner - damncabbage
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/19/us-swiss-vote-idUSBRE9AI0MJ20131119

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powertower
Not only will this NOT raise wages for workers (for obvious reasons – you
can't pay janitors, low skilled employees, nor replaceable employees half a
million per year, if you want to stay in business), it will also create a
system that ends up either automating or outsourcing the work force (and in
turn hurting those same people that want this to happen).

This is totally self-destructive and counter-productive, and an example of a
group of people with no real experience + absolute bad judgment attempting to
force their ill conceived notions on anyone they think is preventing them from
reaching the happiness they are entitled to (all without doing the hard work).

If you want to get paid well, take the chance and start your own business, or
buy shares in an existing enterprise. Or have the ability to be skillful and
in high demand.

> Schwan was paid 261 times as much as Roche's lowest paid worker in 2012,
> according to a study by employee group Travail.Suisse.

Perhaps Schwan created 261 times more value for the company than the lowest
paid employee.

~~~
allochthon
_all without doing the hard work_

Sorry, I didn't read that correctly. I got the impression somewhere along the
way that the people in companies that are are doing the hard work and adding
real value are the same ones who are paid insufficiently to start families and
get ahead in their lives. It is middle and upper management that can be
trimmed without worrying too much about a company's bottom line.

~~~
powertower
If that was even remotely true, than those poor, overworked, and abused family
men could just get management jobs... Do less work and get paid more! Problem
solved.

~~~
allochthon
It is more than remotely true; it's manifestly true. As Reagan should have
said, management is not the solution; it's often the problem.

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liquidcool
What's the chance this will be quickly be skirted by corporate
restructuring/outsourcing? Just put all the execs in a parent company.

~~~
allochthon
I think this is a good point. But the proper response in such cases, it seems
to me, is to try to close the loopholes, rather than give up on the
experiment.

~~~
ams6110
It will be like playing whack-a-mole. Or the talented executives will just
leave the country and go where they can earn more.

~~~
allochthon
_Or the talented executives will just leave the country and go where they can
earn more._

The whack-a-mole game is undoubtedly true. About the most talented execs
leaving, this may be true, and it is certainly what well-compensated execs
will argue.

Also possible is that it will be primarily the most self-serving execs, rather
than the most talented, that will leave. It would be a delightful irony if
Swiss companies began performing better after an exodus of executives. And we
should remember that there is no limit on executive pay, specifically.

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bsamuels
There seems to be one of two possible outcomes if a bill like this passes:
Either swiss companies drastically raise worker salaries, or they just move
their businesses out of the country.

Is anyone here familiar enough with how Switzerland's economy is structured to
know which way it would lean?

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ollysb
Could be some rather well paid cleaners in Switzerland.

~~~
michaelt
It seems to be linked to the lowest paid workers' pay, rather than the
cleaners' pay specifically.

So for an exec to take home $1 million, their lowest paid employee would have
to be on $83,333

~~~
allochthon
Seems like a nice incentive for companies to raise workers' wages, provided
the 1:12 law is written in a way that is difficult to get around.

~~~
powertower
So it's either:

A) Double, triple, 10x existing wages - and go out of business before the year
is out.

B) Dictate to privately run and owned businesses that they are subjects of
their employees (rather than the other way around) - creating resentment,
socialism, and speeding up automation and outsourcing.

I don't see a win here for anyone.

~~~
allochthon
I see what you did there. :) There are many other ways it could go.

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nationcrafting
Is Hacker News turning into Reddit? What does this article have to do with
startups, tech or anything else HN is about?

Don't get me wrong, it's an interesting article but, frankly, there are plenty
of other websites I can go to for this kind of content.

~~~
humbledrone
I almost think that you are intentionally trolling, but I will link to and
quote from the HN guidelines in response to your comment:

[http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

> _On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes
> more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the
> answer might be: anything that gratifies one 's intellectual curiosity._

> _If your account is less than a year old, please don 't submit comments
> saying that HN is turning into Reddit. (It's a common semi-noob illusion.)_

~~~
nationcrafting
Was just kidding. Sorry...

