Switzerland agrees to cap vacation days
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Switzerland agrees to cap vacation days
David Brancaccio: Who wants more time off, raise your hand. No? In a national vote, the Swiss just decided against making employers give all workers an extra two weeks of paid vacation every year.
Marketplace’s Stephen Beard reports.
Stephen Beard: The Swiss already get a minimum of four weeks paid vacation. They were asked what seems like a silly question: Do you want two weeks more? In any other country, it would be a silly question — but not in Switzerland. They’ve just voted a resounding “no.”
Tony Ganzer is an American journalist based in Zurich.
Tony Ganzer: Two thirds of voters said, ‘No, I don’t want more vacation. I want to do good work. I want to be proud in that, I don’t need extra vacation.’
It’s not just the Swiss work ethic in operation. Critics of the measure said it would drag down the Swiss economy — and at a time when exports and tourism have been hit by the soaring value of the franc.
A spokesman for Swiss industry said the referendum result was not a surprise. This isn’t Greece, he said, this is Switzerland.
In London, I’m Stephen Beard for Marketplace.
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