full European Parliament green light this wednesday to the community directive what a standard minimum wage “adequate” in The European Union to provide “decent” living and working conditions.
In the statement made by the European Parliament, it was stated that the law, which also aims to encourage the collective bargaining of the member states, continued with 505 votes in favor, 92 against and 44 abstentions.
For “Improving the living and working conditions of all workers in the EUIn order to “promote economic and social progress” and “promote economic and social progress”, the directive sets minimum requirements that guarantee an adequate minimum wage through national legislation or collective agreements.
Moreover, Improves effective access to minimum wage protection for all workersAdded the EP.
The new rule will apply to all employees who have an employment contract or employment relationship in the European Union.
EU countries where the minimum wage is currently only protected by collective agreements they will not be required to introduce these standards or universally enforce such conventions..
The power to set the minimum wage will remain in the hands of the Member States, however, the AP said countries must ensure that minimum wages allow workers to “live decent lives taking into account the cost of living and overall salary level”.
Member States may refer to a basket of goods and services at real prices, or 60% of the median gross wage and 50% of the average gross wage, when assessing whether their statutory minimum wages are adequate.
The European Parliament stressed sectoral and intersectoral collective bargaining is a “core” factor achieve an “adequate” minimum wage, which is why the new European law aims to encourage and strengthen this.
Therefore, countries with a collective agreement coverage rate of less than 80% should develop an action plan to encourage this with the participation of the social partners.
Member States will also be required to establish a system to ensure compliance with the directive and to address phenomena such as abusive subcontracting, fraudulent self-employment, undeclared overtime or increased workload.
“This system should include reliable inspection measures, controls and on-site inspections,” said the European Parliament.
Workers, their representatives and union members will be entitled to compensation for non-compliance with the regulations.
The European Parliament and Member States, co-legislators of the community club, reached an agreement on the law in June, and this commitment between Parliament and the countries was approved at the plenary meeting in Strasbourg today.
The text now needs to be officially approved by the EU Council, which brings the countries together, and published in the EU’s “Official Journal”.
Since that time, Member States will have two years to comply with the directive.
Parliament noted that Luxembourg, Ireland and Germany have the highest minimum wages in the community club, as opposed to the lowest in Bulgaria, Latvia and Estonia.
In the European Union, 21 Member States have a minimum wage set by law. In six other countries (Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Italy and Sweden), wage levels are determined through collective wage bargaining.