The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has welcomed the report by Dennis Radtke (EPP, Germany) and Agnes Jongerius (S&D, Netherlands) on the directive to establish a decent minimum wage, presented on Thursday 22 April. But it believes that none of these measures will be enough to reverse the trend of rising inequality in the EU.
In particular, the ETUC is pleased that the two MEPs have clarified in their report (see EUROPE 12704/26) that trade unions, and not only “workers organisations” as proposed by the European Commission (see EUROPE 12591/8), are involved in collective bargaining.
The trade unions also welcomed the clarification by two parliamentarians that trade unions must have access to workplaces. They also fully support the decency threshold introduced below which a minimum wage cannot be accepted.
Similarly, they welcome the proposal to ban access to public procurement contracts for companies that do not respect the right of workers to organise and bargain collectively and the recognition of the need to ensure that national collective bargaining schemes combat the break up of trade unions.
However, the ETUC believes that these changes will not really address the growing inequalities in the EU. It highlighted that two out of five workers in the EU do not benefit from collectively bargained wages and that 24 million workers receive a minimum wage below the poverty line. In two-thirds of EU Member States, workers receive a lower share of national GDP than they did at the beginning of the decade.
So, while the parliamentarians’ amendments will “slow down the increase in inequality”, said Esther Lynch, ETUC deputy secretary, “much more is needed” after a “decade of falling wages, precarious work and rising inequality”. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)