📋 Tender Overview
With a large majority the European Parliament has adopted a new minimum wage directive in the EU.The European Commission has been working on a proposal for a directive on adequate minimum wages in Europe . The purpose of the minimum wage directive is to improve working and living conditions for all workers in the EU and promote economic and social development.The proposal for the directive was first presented on 28 October 2020. In winter and spring eight negotiation meetings were held between EU institutions so-called trilogues before an agreement was finally reached in June this year.First the directive was adopted by the EUs labor ministers on 16 June then it was considered and adopted in the European Parliament on 14 September.The main content of the minimum wage directiveFrom the press releases the main features of the directive text are made knownStatutory minimum wages must be set at an adequate levelMember States with statutory minimum wages this applies to 21 of the EUs Member States must establish a procedure and a framework to determine and update the level of minimum wages according to given criteria. The criteria are among other things the cost of living purchasing power the distribution of wages and national productivity. The states must establish routines to ensure that the partners of working life are involved in the determination of the minimum wage.States where the wage is currently set exclusively through negotiations between the parties to the working life shall not be required to introduce a statutory minimum wage or generalize collective collective agreements. Furthermore it is specified that the directive does not determine the salary level which falls under the responsibility of the partners in employment and within the relevant competence of the Member States.Collective wage determination and degree of organization must be promotedIn the work on the directive it has been shown that states with high collective agreement coverage have a lower proportion of low-paid workers and greater pay equality. There is therefore a consensus that the directive should promote collective wage formation and strengthen the role of the partners in working life.As a concrete means of action the directive requires all states with collective agreement coverage lower than 80 percent to draw up an action plan to promote collective wage formation. The action plan must be drawn up in collaboration with the parties in working life and have clear deadlines and measures.Access to the minimum wage must become more effective and realThe directive contains several measures to ensure the enforcement of the right to a minimum wage be it a collective or statutory minimum wage. These measures include among other things controls under the auspices of the supervisory bodies as well as access to information on wages.Further processFormally the directive must now be approved by the Council before the EU member states have two years to incorporate the minimum wage directive into national law.The legal act will be assessed by the EEAEFTA states once the directive has been adopted and published in the EU Gazette. It will then be finally assessed whether Norway is obliged to incorporate the act into Norwegian law. Read more about the proposed directive in the EEA notes database.
