On 26 June, the German Minimum Wage Commission decided on minimal increases of the minimum wage - against the votes of the trade union representatives on the Commission. According to the decision, the minimum wage will increase to just € 12.41 on 1 January 2024, and to € 12.82 one year later, on 1 January 2025. In the first year, this corresponds to an increase of 3.4%, in the second year to 3.3%. The DGB criticizes that these increases are completely insufficient in the light of high inflation and, furthermore, to meet the requirements of the EU Minimum Wage Directive, which must be transposed into national law by the end of 2024 at the latest. According to this directive, minimum wages in the EU should reach at least 60% of the median wage of full-time employees. In Germany, this would correspond to a minimum wage of at least €14.
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For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.