Strong work ethic … a man casts his vote in the referendum that asked,ugg boots outlet, among other questions, if the minimum holiday should be raised from four to six weeks. Photo: AP Who turns down a long vacation? Known for their work ethic,Hogan Shoes, Swiss citizens appear to be leading the way on European austerity, rejecting a minimum six weeks paid holiday a year. Switzerland counted ballots for five national referendums, including one pushed by a union to raise the minimum holiday up from four weeks, which is the standard used in Germany, Italy,Mulberry handbags, Russia and other European nations. Some of the nation’s 26 cantons (states) also held voting on local measures to deal with everything from demonstrators to prostitutes. Advertisement: Story continues below The Swiss heeded warnings from government and business that more vacation would raise labor costs and put the economy at risk. Swiss public broadcaster SSR said two-thirds of voters and all of the cantons had rejected the measure, which required majority approval of all federal and cantonal voters. “In rejecting the initiative, citizens have kept a sense of reality,“ said Hans-Ulrich Bigler, director of the Swiss Union of Arts and Crafts, which represents around 300,000 businesses. The referendum, he said in a statement, could have added 6 billion francs ($6.52 billion) a year in labor costs to the Swiss economy, but the vote “clearly shows that the population continues to focus on individual freedom and responsibility of citizens.“ Though popular with young people, the referendum on vacation time tested how comfortable the Swiss feel about their traditional safe-haven economy. The nation has fared better than most others in debt-saddled Europe, where the financial sector and governments are being forced to cut spending and pay for expensive bailouts. In a separate vote, 51 percent of voters approved an initiative limiting the number of so-called second homes to 20 percent within a community. Proponents had put forward the initiative in a bid to curb urban sprawl. AP

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