23 minutes agoEU agrees to minimum wage hikes
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)After a long and contradictory debate, compromise has been reached -- in the future there will be standards throughout the EU for minimum wages. Germany needs to make improvements. The EU states and the European Parliament have agreed on common standards for minimum wages in the European Union. According to European Parliament chief negotiator Dennis Radtke, compromise [...]
The EU states and the European Parliament have agreed on common standards for minimum wages in the European Union. According to European Parliament chief negotiator Dennis Radtke, compromise includes standards on how to establish, update and implement minimum wages. In addition, the proposed law envisions that EU countries should determine action plans to increase collective bargaining coverage with 80 per cent of it, CLU politician for the German Press Agency (DPA) confirmed. The lives of millions of workers will greatly improve.
EU countries announced that minimum wages should be updated at least every two years in the future. There is an exception for countries using an automatic index mechanism. This is true for a period of four years. Social partners like labour unions and employers' associations should be included in procedures for determining and updating minimum wages.
The European Commission welcomed the agreement. According to the Commission, the new directive does not force member states to impose minimum salaries by law. It also does not specify the common level of minimum wage in the EU.
The EU Commission had proposed a bill in October 2020. With the agreement now reached, there were challenges that EU treaties set very narrow boundaries because the European Union is not allowed to set specific wage levels, but only to provide guidelines.
Federal Labour Minister Hubert Heil (SPD) was pleased with the deal. This will set new standards for a social Europe. The “Whoever works should be able to make a reasonable living out of his salary this applies in Stockholm and Lisbon, as well as in Berlin and Bucharest,” Heil explained.
Left requests more tempo
The EU Parliament and member states must now formally approve the agreement. Then, member states have two years to include these regulations in national laws. The new EU regulator now must be decided quickly and then applied immediately to Germany,” demanded Pascal Meiser, spokesman for trade union policy in Bundestag. However, the current government coalition plans do not go so far “from” and do not foresee enough changes to reach the collective agreement in Germany. Therefore, a comprehensive package of measures against pay duplication and strengthening the negotiation system for collective tariffs are needed.
But Sweden and Denmark have expressed themselves against the regulation adopted on Tuesday. They see this document as political interference in determining salaries in their countries. However, the regulation represents success because more than 15 of the 27 member states have supported common standards of minimum wage.
Total payment of 12 euros in Germany
In Germany it is set last week for the minimum wage to rise to twelve euros per hour of work. The decision will take effect in October. Germany already has one of the highest minimum wages in the EU. In Luxembourg alone, more is paid, according to information from the Federal Statistics Ent and the Federal Labour Ministry. However, the degree of coverage of collective agreements in the Federal Republic is well below 80 per cent now aimed at the regulation adopted in Brussels. / DW
