The European Parliament (EP) passed the new legislation on adequate minimum wages in the European Union (EU) by a large majority this Wednesday, in the absence of final approval from member states.
With 505 votes in favour, 92 against and 44 abstentions, MEPs supported the European Commission’s proposal that promotes the adequacy of national minimum wages and thus contributes to achieving decent working and living conditions for European workers.
The Council of the EU is expected to adopt the legislation in September, after which it will take two years to fully transpose the directive into 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 clear set of criteria.
The Council and the EP had already agreed that national minimum wages would be updated at least every two years (or at most every four years in the case of countries using an automatic indexation mechanism).
The social partners should participate in the procedures for setting and updating national minimum wages.
Source: DN
