The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on Monday 14 September welcomed recent statements to the Swedish press by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who assured that she wanted to strengthen the role of the social partners in wage setting.
“The Commission will never request Sweden to introduce a statutory minimum wage”, the President told the Swedish daily Dagens Nhyeter, before stressing the importance of national traditions and her desire to strengthen social dialogue.
This is excellent news for the Confederation, 85% of whose members voted at the beginning of the month in favour of the presentation by the European Commission of a directive to contribute to the establishment of “fair” wages (see EUROPE 12553/22).
For trade unions, the directive must indeed prevent the introduction of legal minimum wages below the poverty line, i.e., 60% of the median wage and 50% of the average wage (based on national full-time gross wages). They therefore call for the right to collective bargaining and for trade union access to workplaces to be guaranteed in each Member State.
The Commission intends to present an initiative on 28 October (see EUROPE 12556/31). The presentation of an initiative worries the Scandinavian countries, which are particularly attached to respecting the role of the social partners (see EUROPE 12387/17). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)