Federal popular initiative "against rip-off"
The federal popular initiative "against rip-off" (also known as the "rip-off initiative" or "Minder initiative") is a Swiss popular initiative that was launched in 2005 by entrepreneur Thomas Minder , who has now been elected to the Council of States for the Canton of Schaffhausen . The initiative was a reaction to the exorbitant remuneration of individual managers in large Swiss companies and banks. One of the main triggers was the Swissair grounding in 2001. While the then head of Swissair, Mario Corti , had received five annual salaries in advance, Minder (at least initially) remained on his unpaid bills as a supplier of cosmetics. The initiative came to a vote on March 3, 2013 and was approved with a 67.9% yes vote. This was the third highest approval rating for a popular initiative in Switzerland .
content
The aim of the initiative is to ban severance payments and advance payments for board members of listed companies, a ban on voting rights for governing bodies and custody accounts, and requires that the pension funds must vote in the interests of their members at general meetings . At the same time, it demands the annual election of the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the individual members of the Board of Directors by shareholders and the introduction of electronic remote voting.
Initiative text
I.
The Federal Constitution of April 18, 1999 is amended as follows:
Art. 95 para. 3 (new)
3 In order to protect the economy, private property and shareholders as well as in the interests of sustainable corporate governance, the law regulates Swiss public limited companies listed in Switzerland or abroad according to the following principles:
a. The general meeting votes annually on the total amount of all remuneration (money and value of the benefits in kind) of the board of directors, the management and the advisory board. Each year, it elects the Chairman of the Board of Directors and individually the members of the Board of Directors and the Compensation Committee, as well as the independent proxy. The pension funds vote in the interests of their policyholders and disclose how they voted. The shareholders can electronically vote remotely; proxy voting for organs and custody accounts is prohibited.
b. The members of the executive bodies receive no severance payments or other compensation, no advance payment, no bonus for company acquisitions and sales and no additional consultancy or employment contract from another company in the group. The management of the company cannot be delegated to a legal person.
c. The Articles of Association regulate the amount of credits, loans and pensions to the members of the governing bodies, their profit and participation plans and their number of mandates outside the Group as well as the duration of the employment contracts of the members of the Executive Board.
d. Violation of the provisions under letters a – c is punishable by imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of up to six annual remuneration.
II
The transitional provisions of the Federal Constitution are supplemented as follows:
Art. 197 paragraph 8 (new)
8. Transitional provision to Article 95 paragraph 3
Until the statutory provisions come into force, the Federal Council shall issue the necessary implementing provisions within one year of the acceptance of Article 95 paragraph 3 by the people and the cantons.
history
At the beginning of the 21st century, many large global corporations saw remuneration and severance payments for managers, which were largely perceived as excessive , while some of their companies posted losses. In 2005, the small entrepreneur from Schaffhausen, Thomas Minder, launched the federal popular initiative “against rip-off”, which he finally submitted on February 26, 2008 with 118,583 authenticated signatures.
This was followed by a multi-year discussion in parliament, which finally decided not to issue a recommendation on the initiative, and in March 2012 adopted an indirect counter-proposal in the form of an article in law , which would have come into force automatically if no one had called the referendum and the popular initiative should be rejected. It stipulated that the board of directors of listed companies would issue remuneration regulations that had to be approved by the shareholders. The annual compensation should be disclosed in a compensation report. When it comes to the reimbursement of unjustified payments, the counter-proposal went further than the initiative. According to the initiators, essential requirements were not implemented in this article of the law, which they describe as the "toothless paper tiger". Excessive severance payments remain possible and the representation of organs and custodians is not prohibited. The pension funds would still not be obliged to represent the interests of their insured persons at the general meetings. The indirect counter-proposal would only come into effect after the referendum period has expired and, in the case of a referendum, after the relevant vote. In addition, it would grant the public companies a two-year transition period to implement the new legal provisions.
Minder decided not to withdraw the initiative. So this came to the vote on March 3, 2013. If accepted, the initiative would take effect by March 3, 2014 at the latest, as it requires the Federal Council to issue the transitional ordinance within one year .
While the initiative committee had around 200,000 francs available in the voting, the opponents of the initiative, above all the economic umbrella organization Economiesuisse , invested eight million francs. Despite this imbalance, according to polls in early February, the initiative had an approval rating of 64% of the electorate (with a rejection of 27%). Commentators expected a further increase in approval of the initiative after it became known two weeks before the vote that the outgoing Novartis Board of Directors President Daniel Vasella had received CHF 12 million a year, up to a maximum of CHF 72 million in six years, for a non- competition clause .
Results
| Canton | Yes (%) | No (%) | Participation (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
 Aargau
|
66.8% | 33.2% | 44.4% |
 Appenzell Ausserrhoden
|
66.3% | 33.7% | 51.8% |
 Appenzell Innerrhoden
|
61.0% | 39.0% | 41.9% |
 Basel-Country
|
67.5% | 32.5% | 44.5% |
 Basel city
|
67.3% | 32.7% | 49.4% |
 Bern
|
70.3% | 29.7% | 42.8% |
 Freiburg
|
70.3% | 29.7% | 44.5% |
 Geneva
|
67.7% | 32.3% | 46.5% |
 Glarus
|
69.6% | 30.4% | 36.1% |
 Grisons
|
65.5% | 34.5% | 56.2% |
 law
|
77.1% | 22.9% | 40.6% |
 Lucerne
|
66.3% | 33.7% | 46.2% |
 Neuchâtel
|
71.9% | 28.1% | 41.7% |
 Nidwalden
|
57.7% | 42.3% | 49.0% |
 Obwalden
|
56.1% | 43.9% | 51.6% |
 Schaffhausen
|
75.9% | 24.1% | 64.9% |
 Schwyz
|
60.8% | 39.2% | 49.2% |
 Solothurn
|
67.9% | 32.1% | 48.6% |
 St. Gallen
|
66.4% | 33.6% | 44.0% |
 Ticino
|
70.7% | 29.3% | 41.5% |
 Thurgau
|
70.5% | 29.5% | 43.1% |
 Uri
|
64.3% | 35.7% | 41.4% |
 Vaud
|
66.5% | 33.5% | 41.4% |
 Valais
|
63.7% | 36.3% | 67.8% |
 train
|
58.2% | 41.8% | 51.9% |
 Zurich
|
70.2% | 29.8% | 47.0% |
 Swiss Confederation
|
67.9% | 32.1% | 46.0% |
implementation
After this popular initiative was accepted by the voters, the Swiss Federal Council was obliged to issue a corresponding ordinance by March 2014, which was published under the title Ordinance against Excessive Compensation in Stock Exchange Listed Companies (abbreviated VegüV ) and which was binding for Swiss companies from January 1, 2014 is to be applied. This regulation only applies for a transitional period. In order to anchor it in the constitution, a revision of the company law is being discussed in parliament , whereby further topics are included.
Web links
- Website of the initiators of the federal popular initiative «against rip-off»
- Website of the support committee for voting and implementation
- Jakob Augstein : Anti-Greed Law: We Germans are the real clowns
- SPD calls for anti-greed law for Germany (March 4, 2013)
Footnotes
- ↑ Iwan Städler: "The Minor" cannot do otherwise. In: Tages-Anzeiger . December 14, 2012, accessed March 5, 2013 .
- ↑ Marc Brupbacher: "Democracy explodes". In: Tages-Anzeiger. March 3, 2013, accessed March 3, 2013 .
- ↑ The text of the federal popular initiative 'against rip-off' on the federal website ( admin.ch )
- ↑ Initiative committee «against rip-offs»: submission «against rip-offs» ( Memento from January 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). February 26th, 2008 abzockerinitiativeja.ch
- ^ Iwan Städler: Interview: "We are not withdrawing the initiative". In: Tages-Anzeiger. June 28, 2012, accessed March 3, 2013 .
- ↑ Peer Teuwsen : Initiative against "rip-offs": Mind the fight . In: The time . No. 5 , January 24, 2013.
- ↑ Andreas Fagetti: A saddle for those up there . In: WOZ The weekly newspaper . No. 5 , January 31, 2013 ( online ).
- ↑ Consent to the “rip-off” initiative stable. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . February 21, 2013, accessed March 3, 2013 .
- ↑ The rip-off initiative, thanks to Vasella, has probably reached the home stretch. (No longer available online.) In: Cash . February 17, 2013, archived from the original on April 7, 2013 ; Retrieved March 3, 2013 .
- ↑ Template No. 568 - preliminary official final results. Federal Chancellery, March 3, 2013, accessed on March 3, 2013 . (admin.ch)
- ↑ Ordinance against excessive remuneration in listed stock corporations (VegüV) on the federal website, November 20, 2013, accessed on May 26, 2014 (admin.ch)
- ↑ Homework of the pension funds, ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Neue Zürcher Zeitung, May 24, 2014, p. 29, accessed on May 26, 2014