Representatives of European employers – BusinessEurope, SMEunited and CEEP – are showing some reluctance to present a European instrument – such as a directive – to ensure fair minimum wages in the EU, in their responses to the first stage consultation of social partners launched in mid-January by the European Commission (see EUROPE 12403/5).
For these three employers’ organisations, the European Commission’s action must be limited to the scope conferred on it by the European Treaties (Article 153, para. 5 of the TFEU) and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (in particular the C-268/06 ruling), recalling that the European Commission has no competence to introduce a legal instrument for minimum wages. Thus, for SMEunited, the adoption of a directive on “setting a statutory minimum wage [...] is not the right way forward”.
All three insist, as do the trade unions, on the need to recognise the role of the social partners in setting these wages. The European Centre of Employers and Enterprises providing Public Services (CEEP) would therefore like the role of the social partners to be included in the title of the initiative itself.
For BusinessEurope, which represents the major employers, the Commission’s action should rather focus on improving the efficiency of the ‘European Semester’ budget process on the basis of Article 147 of the TFEU, which encourages cooperation between Member States to achieve a high level of employment. In this framework, the institution should focus on monitoring incomes, certainly, but above all on the quality of social dialogue, especially in the process of setting the statutory minimum wage, which is too often “politicised”, according to the employers’ organisation.
In its response, BusinessEurope also expresses “strong concern” about the definition of “adequate pay”. The overall cost of hiring for an employer must be taken into account, explains the organisation, but also the social benefits often received by low-wage workers. SMEUnited, for its part, warns that too high minimum wage inflation could push firms and workers into undeclared work or lead to a reduction in the number of working hours of employees or even the replacement of low-paid workers by automation. Similarly, too high a level or an increase in the minimum wage would reduce the possibilities of access to the labour market for specific groups such as low-skilled or young workers, depending on the organisation representing SMEs.
Unions want action
Positions that are not shared by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), which believes that Member States should be required to ensure that statutory minimum wages gradually reach a level of at least 60% of the national full-time median wage, specifying that this 60% level is a minimum threshold and should not be considered an end goal.
Thus, only the trade unions answered the question whether the social partners would be inclined to open dialogue under Article 155 of the TFEU with a yes. The other three organisations felt that it was still premature to respond and are waiting for more details.
The Commission is currently analysing the different responses of the social partners. According to the latest update of the planned items on the agenda of the College of the Commission, the institution could launch the 2nd phase of consultation on 29 April.
BusinessEurope response: http://bit.ly/2VC4a5s; ETUC response: http://bit.ly/396P8Zu; SMEunited response: http://bit.ly/2I46avx; CEEP response: http://bit.ly/381zqxy (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)