Million franc salaries cause friction in Bern

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Andreas Meyer_© CFF_SBB_FFS

Switzerland’s government recently voted for a ceiling on the salaries of those managing public companies such as Swisscom, Swiss Post, Skyguide and Swiss Rail.

In response, the board of Swiss Rail wrote to the Federal Council requesting it to soften its position. From 2020, the company wants to pay its nine senior managers CHF 5.89 million, including a salary of more than CHF 1 million to Andreas Meyer, the boss of the company. The letter said there was a risk Meyer would quit if no compromise could be found, according to the newspaper NZZ am Sonntag as reported in 20 Minutes.

Simonetta Sommaruga, the minister of transport, has been putting pressure on the bosses of Swiss Post and Ruag, an aerospace and defense company, to cut their salaries by 4% to bring them under CHF 1 million, with no success.

Thomas Minder, a parliamentarian who launched a campaign against rip off salaries, also supported salary caps for managers of public companies.

In 2013, an initiative aiming to impose a maximum salary ratio of 12 to 1 for the highest and lowest paid members of a company’s staff, was rejected by 65.3% of Swiss voters.

Some in the Socialist Party threatened to launch another referendum on the subject.

About Investec

Investec is a distinctive Specialist Bank and Asset Manager. We provide a diverse range of financial products and services to a niche client base in three principal markets, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia, as well as certain other geographies. Investec’s strategic goals are motivated by the desire to develop an efficient and integrated business on an international scale through the active pursuit of clearly established core competencies in the group’s principal business areas.

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