The minimum wage will rise from the current € 307.70 by 3% to € 317 per month as of next year, following a decision by the government of Prime Minister Iveta Radičová taken on 13 October. The leaders of the four governing coalition parties agreed to the rise despite strong opposition from employers' groups and protests by representatives of regional governments. Unions, by contrast, had argued in favour of a rise. The Labour Ministry proposed the increase in line with the law on the minimum wage that says that, if social partners fail to agree on the level of the minimum wage, the ministry has to propose an increase by the percentage of the average wage increase in the preceding year, 2009.
For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.