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.
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.
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 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.
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.
