Mounir Satouri is a French MEP in the EP Greens/EFA group. He is a member of the EP Committee on Employment and Social Affairs.
Setting a minimum wage is one of the oldest labour rights struggles. Today, if the EU does not deliver on a directive creating upwards convergence of minimum wages and protecting the lowest paid workers in our societies and their families with decent minimum living wages, no amount of good intentions and speeches will save the face of social Europe. With the economic hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, we can expect that more workers than before will need this protection in the future. At a dramatic time, social Europe is facing its litmus test: will the EU deliver on this crucial and basic labour right?
A battle for women, youth, and workers with non-standard contracts
Ethically, minimum wages matter to everyone. But statistically, this battle is of most concern to women, youth, low-skilled workers, and single parents, as well as workers with non-standard contracts, including workers with disabilities in sheltered workshops. There are twice as many women earning minimum wages as men in the EU. During the last year, many have come to acknowledge the underestimated value of minimum wage workers, who often perform essential tasks for our societies. Whether the EU delivers an impactful directive on a decent minimum living wage matters especially to those workers.
Beyond raising hopes: raising wages
Regardless of whether minimum wages are set through collective agreements or law, each EU worker should be able to use this directive to challenge indecently low wages and obtain redress and reparations in court.
We, the Greens/EFA, will refuse to claim false victories that raise the hopes of minimum wage workers without raising their wages. Aiming for 90% of workers to be protected by collective bargaining, as the co-rapporteurs of the Parliament propose, is important. However, we know that achieving comprehensive collective bargaining coverage will be a long-term battle. It is critical and urgent to ensure that every worker in the EU earns a decent minimum living wage. Otherwise, many workers - often the most vulnerable - will be left behind. The European Parliament has the duty to be bold, ambitious, and timely in order to address this challenge today.
Delivering on a European need
At a time when nine Member States have asked to downgrade the directive to a recommendation, it is understandable that Parliament’s co-rapporteurs do not expect to achieve a directive that goes beyond the current state of the treaties. But if this directive does not deliver for minimum wage earners in the EU, whether the EU has sufficiently strong competences in this area will become our preoccupation.
The EU and its Member States must ensure that the rights recognized by the European Social Charter and the Gothenburg proclamation become a reality and must prevent unhealthy competition that drives down the lowest wages. The EU should already make use of the objective set by the treaties of improving living and working conditions in order to make their upwards convergence possible.
Minimum wages must be a protection, not a compromise
Minimum wage levels cannot depend on the productivity of workers, and minimum wages can only be fair if they provide for a decent living. Let us remember that one out of ten workers in the EU is at risk of poverty. To be effective as a means to eradicate poverty and offer social protection, minimum wages should only depend on the needs of workers and their families in all regions and cities and should be set at a minimum of 60% of the national median gross wage.
It is our commitment to fight any kind of discrimination, including against workers living with disabilities. No discriminatory variation to the minimum wage is acceptable, and all work of equal value deserves equal pay.
Finally, a minimum is a minimum, and minimum wage earners should not have to buy their work equipment with their earnings. Deductions to minimum wages usually hit those workers that are already facing discrimination.
Everyone should earn enough to afford to protect their health and the planet
Living decently does not mean having access only to the lowest quality of goods and services. The goods and services that EU workers should be able to afford on a minimum wage for their family and themselves should protect their health and the environment. Raising minimum wages to an adequacy threshold that allows for living sustainably can contribute to achieving the objectives of the Green Deal in Europe and enable everyone to take part in saving our planet, protecting our environment and biodiversity, and supporting our local farmers, producers, and industries.