The idea of a pan-European minimum wage is since decades on the agenda of European politicians. A report that urges the European Commission to introduce an equitable wage gained significant support by the MEPs. The report is strictly advisory, but its approval falls two months prior to the Commission's scheduled proposal of new social welfare rules, including measures on working conditions and wages. While 22 countries already have a minimum wage in place, Austria and five other countries did not follow suit. The reason, however, lies in the robust system of collective agreement in some of these countries. The bargaining is conducted by trade unions at a sectoral level with a strong emphasis on decent wages (also at the lowest level), which makes the unions in these states understandably sceptical of a minimum wage.
English: https://sputniknews.com/europe …
The report: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room ...
German: http://www.oegb.at/cms ...
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Willy De Backer wdebacker@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. Since June 2013 readers can consult our archive and search through all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.
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