Ενημέρωση για τις εργασιακές σχέσεις από το διαδίκτυο - Εξωτερικό

The agreement follows a critical Supreme Court judgment and the ‘riders’ law’ deriving from social dialogue.

The Council today (6/12/2021) agreed its position on a Commission proposal for an EU law on adequate minimum wages in the EU. Fair wages that provide for a decent standard of living are one of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights. To improve working and living conditions, this draft law establishes a framework to promote adequate levels of statutory minimum wages, to promote collective bargaining on wage setting and to improve the effective access to minimum wage protection of those workers who are entitled to a minimum wage.

On 21 October, the European Commission hosted its first technical seminar focusing on social partners’ contribution to policy making. It forms part of the review aiming to support the EU sectoral social dialogue to better embrace challenges in the world of work, such as digitalisation and new forms of work.

The European Commission sponsors the “European Pillar of Social Rights” Award at the International Social Film Festival of Castilla-La Mancha (FECISO), taking place in Toledo.

A new report by the Expert Group on the transposition of Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions has been published.

The massive and rapid adoption of telework in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 lockdowns exposed gaps in the legislation governing telework arrangements across the EU Member States. In some cases, there was no regulation in place; in others, it was too restrictive. Governments scrambled to put temporary measures in place to cover the emergency situation and the urgent need to enable workers to work from home. Now that the pandemic is receding and wholesale telework seems to be here to stay, governments are faced with the need to properly regulate such arrangements. Member States are following different paths, but the EU might step in to promote some level of standardisation.

This report summarises how minimum wage rates for 2021 were set during 2020 – the year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. It reviews the difficulties faced by national decision-makers and how they reacted to the challenges of the economic and social fall-out of the pandemic when making decisions regarding the minimum wage. It maps the extent to which minimum wages were referred to in COVID-19-related support measures. It discusses advances made on the EU initiative on adequate minimum wages and maps the reactions of the EU-level social partners and national decision-makers. The report is accompanied by two complementary working papers: one providing an analysis of developments for low-paid employees and minimum wage workers over the past decade; the other summarising the most recent research on minimum wages in EU countries, Norway and the UK.

The Employers' Group in the European Economic and Social Committee massively voted against the EESC opinion on the European Commission's proposal on "adequate minimum wages in the European Union" and tabled a counter-opinion, which will be appended to the EESC opinion as it has collected more than a third of the votes.

21 May 2021 10.00 am CET - EESC Workers' Group Webinar

#EUMinimumWages

The European Commission's proposal for a directive on adequate minimum wages has sparked controversy among member states and social partners alike across Europe.

The proposal develops the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, aiming to improve the working and living conditions of millions of workers in the EU.

Today one in five Europeans are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, while 10% of workers are considered working poor.

Europe needs to make sure that workers benefit from adequate minimum wages, that poverty wages end and that wage setting systems through collective bargaining are strengthened again after years of stagnation and decline.

On 21 May, we will discuss the issue of the Adequate Minimum Wages Directive, with Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, EP rapporteurs on Adequate Minimum Wages Agnes Jongerius & Dennis Radtke, Workers' Group President Oliver Röpke, and EESC member and co-rapporteur of the opinion on the Adequate Minimum Wages Directive Cinzia Del Rio. The webinar will be moderated by journalist Jacki Davis.

Join the conversation online at the EESC Twitter https://twitter.com/EU_EESC and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanEconomicAndSocialCommittee

on 21 May at 10.00 am CET to hear from our speakers, and take part! Comment on social media under the video and our moderator will bring the questions to the speakers.

Join the conversation using #EUMinimumWages.

This webinar will be held in English

The COVID-19 crisis had a significant impact on wages and wage setting across Europe in 2020. The uncertain economic scenario, together with the difficulties inherent in online bargaining, led to a general postponement of collective agreements to 2021, especially at company level. Real wages maintained a positive trend during 2020 in most EU countries, with just modest increases, while higher increases were observed in the public sector. Wage support mechanisms introduced by governments also contributed to supporting wages in the private sector for workers whose hours have been reduced or who have been temporarily laid off. The crisis seems to have particularly affected low-wage workers, occupations, and sectors. It is likely that wage support mechanisms and minimum wages have played a key role in reducing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on growing earning inequalities.

This article is one of a series that explores working life issues in the 27 EU Member States, Norway and the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is based on information provided by the Network of Eurofound Correspondents and published as a set of individual country reports in ‘Working life in the COVID-19 pandemic 2020’.

• Country reports: Working life in the COVID-19 pandemic 2020