ZURICH: Swiss voters rebuffed a government plan to reform company pension funds, marking the second time this year that a proposal to adapt the country’s retirement system to changed demographics was rejected in a plebiscite.

The bill to increase wage deductions and reduce retirement payouts – in order to cope with higher life expectancy – was supported by just 32.9% of the electorate, according to final government results published last Sunday.

“Now we stick with the status quo,” Switzerland’s leading business lobby economiesuisse said in a statement.

“Regardless, reforms will be needed due to demographic change, increasing life expectancy and changing labour models,” it added.

The plan had also envisioned higher payments to low-earners. Particularly women would have profitted from that, according to the government.

Still, after parliament had passed the bill, unions collected more than 50,000 signatures to challenge it in a referendum, claiming that the plan was a fraud because employees had to pay more while getting less.

“We still have an unsolved problem, namely the pension gap for women,” Maya Graf, a Green lawmaker who had supported the bill against the majority of her party, told broadcaster SRF.

Women received 44% less than men in benefits from their pension funds, Graf said.

“Women therefore continue to run the risk of slipping into poverty in old age.”

Citizens also voted against an initiative to expand the protection of nature reserves and thereby limit construction. Polls ahead of the ballot had predicted both outcomes. Turnout was at 45%.

In March, voters had rejected a proposal to raise the retirement age and subsequently tie it to life expectancy.

Instead, the ballot went in favour of a plan to raise pensions with a 13th annual payment. To meet this demand, the government now plans to raise the sales tax.

On company pension funds – the second pillar in the Swiss retirement system – the government will now likely have to draw up an alternative reform to make the scheme future-proof. 

 - Bloomberg