Pubdate: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 Source: Toronto Star (Canada) Page: A3 Copyright: 1999, The Toronto Star Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ SWISS VOTERS TURN DOWN PAID MATERNITY LEAVE But Approve State Distribution Of Heroin To Addicts GENEVA (AP) - Turning their backs on a promise made to women more than 50 years ago, Swiss voters yesterday threw out government plans to introduce paid maternity leave. In a separate vote, they also endorsed state distribution of heroin to hardened addicts by the unexpectedly small majority of 54 per cent. The resounding rejection was a surprise as polls had predicted a close call. It reinforced an image of Switzerland as a chauvinistic stronghold, where women only got the right to vote in 1971. Mothers with infants wept as results of the maternity benefit vote filtered through. The final tally was just 39 per cent in favour and 61 per cent against. ``We're in total despair,'' said women's rights activist Christiane Brunner. ``We worked years for this. What can we do now?'' The concept of maternity leave was introduced in the Swiss constitution in 1945, but there were no concrete provisions on the level of pay. The proposal would have given working women 14 weeks of maternity leave at 80 per cent of their salary, bringing Switzerland into line with minimum European standards. It also would have given a lump payment up to $4,000 to women with low incomes. The outcome was also a snub for Switzerland's first female president, Ruth Dreifuss, who waged a personal crusade to end the system in which women are banned from working for two months after childbirth. Parliament last year agreed on the proposed benefit at a cost of $500 million a year. The drug vote outcome puts on a firm legal footing medically supervised distribution of heroin to about 1,500 heroin addicts who have repeatedly failed in efforts to kick their habit. - --- MAP posted-by: Patrick Henry