EU: Minimum Wage Report

Eurofound’s annual report on EU Minimum Wages discusses the implementation of Article 4 of the EU's Adequate Minimum Wage Directive. Key takeaway? Not much is happening on this in most Member States, as we always suspected would be the case

Why it matters: It is worth that some of the countries with very high levels of collective bargaining coverage also have very low levels of union density. In France union density runs at about 8%, in Spain it is 12%, and in Germany it is now down to 14%. It is uncertain whether the Minimum Wage Directive will lead to a surge in union membership. Furthermore, the report does not suggest any significant changes in this regard.

The bottom line: The report’s finding have drawn criticism from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) regarding what they see as an absence of positive measures by most Member States to promote collective bargaining. ETUC repeated its call for EU Public Procurement Directives, and national laws, to be amended so that only undertakings with unions and collective agreements would be entitled to bid for public sector contracts

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Eurofound annual report 

ETUC’s comments here.