Voters in Switzerland are taking part in a referendum on whether to peg executive pay so that bosses cannot receive more than 12 times the salary of their lowest-paid employee.
AFP reports that if passed it would give Switzerland the toughest pay rules in the world.
However, only a third of voters in a recent poll said they would back it, down from closer to half last month.
Dubbed the "1:12" initiative after the legally-binding ratio it would set between the top and bottom salaries in a firm, the plan has met with stiff opposition from Switzerland's business community and political right.
Its critics have issued stark warnings that inscribing salary restrictions into the law would make the wealthy Alpine nation less competitive and break with a Swiss tradition of a limited official meddling in business.
The referendum campaign was spearheaded by the Socialist Party, plus the Greens and trade unions.
They have rejected the criticism, arguing that it is time to clip the wings of the vastly overpaid, and underlining that an informal ratio of around 1:12 was the norm as late as 1998, before things went awry.
