The Council of the European Union today gave its final ‘green light’ to the new law on ‘adequate minimum wages’ across the EU, hoping to help ensure decent working and living conditions for workers in Europe.
The adoption of the 27 comes after the European Parliament passed by a large majority (505 votes in favour, 92 against and 44 abstentions) on 14 September in Strasbourg the new legislation, which Member States now have two years to transpose. in national law.
The Directive establishes procedures for the adequacy of national minimum wages, promotes collective bargaining on wage-setting and improves effective access to minimum wage protection for workers who are entitled to a minimum wage under national law, for example through a national minimum wage or collective agreements.
Member States that have national minimum wages should establish a procedural framework to set and update these minimum wages according to a set of clear criteria.
The Council and the European Parliament had already agreed that national minimum wage updates would take place at least every two years (or at most every four years in the case of countries using an automatic indexation mechanism), with the social partners participating in the procedures for setting and updating national minimum wages.
“If people have to count the pennies because of the energy crisis, this law is a message of hope. Minimum wages and collective wage-setting are powerful tools that can be used to ensure that all workers earn a wage that allows for a decent standard of living,” it noted. current Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU today.
This legislation was originally proposed by the European Commission in October 2020, and the principle of adequate minimum wages is included in the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, adopted at the Oporto Summit in May last year, in the context of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2021.
Source: DN
