European Parliament votes on Minimum Wages

On 11 November 2021, the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) voted on a compromise text of the proposed Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in the European Union. This text got approved by thirty-seven votes in favour, ten against and seven abstentions.

HOTREC welcomes that a reference to deductions and variations was suppressed from the text – as the competencies of Members States shall be respected. We also support the safeguard of national competencies rights, as the text clarifies the various types of minimum wages.

Nevertheless, we regret that international criteria were included in the body of the legislation, even if this states that these indicators are an indicative reference. Subsidiarity prevails on this matter. 

We are also concerned with extending the collective bargaining coverage to 80%: introducing a percentage might interfere directly with national systems and social partners autonomy.

The text will now be subjected to a vote at the European Parliament plenary – most probably on the week of 22 November.

We call on the European Parliament and the Council to respect well-established social partners agreements, encourage collective bargaining with the support of social partners and in line with national competencies, and respect statutory systems.