Minimum wage, the EU Parliament presses: “Covid has shown the urgency. On the front line, poorly paid workers”

The European Union wants to accelerate minimum salary. And pending the provision of Commission, scheduled for the end of October, the EU parliament moves to push the file. The last signal is an analysis of the technical offices of the assembly of Brussels, published at the end of September, which takes stock of the situation: “The European Parliament”, we read, “is pressing for a legislative intervention that guarantees fair minimum wage“And this is because” the crisis COVID-19 has made policies urgent to stabilize income through a combination of wage safeguards and a adequate minimum income scheme, both considered priorities under the German presidency ”. During the emergency shutdownThe “frontline workers” were also those who had lower salaries and in its protection, the document says, it is necessary to intervene. The next move now rests on the EU Commission: according to internal sources reported by Politico.eu, the objective is to prepare a directive which could allow the adoption of “binding rules” already in the coming weeks. The proposal will naturally require “different approaches based on country systems”. Countries that already have a mandatory minimum wage “They will have to verify its adequacy”Based on a series of parameters. The alternative to the directive is to average a recommendation.

The study of the EU Parliament – The study from which the Labor Commission of the EU Parliament will initiate the discussion on the subject reaffirms that the minimum wage, already adopted by 22 European countries, occupies the first place in the “ranking of priorities of the agenda of the three European institutions”. “Despite the positive trend before the Covid-19 crisis, poorly paid jobs and employment conditions poverty at work they remain a challenge in Europe, ”it reads. “Since 1919, the concept of just compensation has been promoted by International Labor Organization and the United Nations. “And it is” anchored in the European pillar of social rights. “It was relaunched as a priority by the president of the EU commission Ursula von der Leyen during the State of the Union address in mid-September: “Everyone in the Union should have a minimum wage. They work and it is time for the work to pay off, ”he said. Now it is a question of translating what is will into an operational key: “The objective is that the Member States have a national framework based on clear criteria, which eliminate undue exemptions and provide for periodic updates ”, the technicians write in the study that will be discussed by MEPs.

The EU Parliament calls for legislative action, but bearing in mind that “the initiative must respect national traditions, in particular the role of national contracts“And in this sense, the EU commission has repeatedly specified that the measure adopted will not intervene directly” on the level of minimum wages throughout the EU and will respect national traditions, the autonomy of the social partners and the freedom of collective bargaining. “So the countries that, despite not having the minimum wage, have a high percentage of workers covered by contract collectives, As theItaly (About 80%), they would not be forced to change models. But they should provide a guaranteed minimum for those who are not covered: they are generally precarious, less unionized and very often poorly paid.

The positions and the result of the work of the EU commission – In recent months, the commission has started a consultation phase with the different actors on the ground. As the study summarizes, “stakeholder positions diverge “. First of all, the majority of trade unions in Europe have spoken out in favor of a European initiative. There European Trade Union Confederation however, he called for “broader action on wage policies” and “the collective bargaining mechanism to be strengthened.” For the union, assuming that “the increase in minimum wage at 60 percent of the average wageIt is the fundamental requirement, this assumption is still insufficient. Despite this, 83% of ETUC members were in favor of the EU commission’s action. In front of employers, the picture is different: the Confindustry of all countries is against it and the European lobby BusinessEurope calls for “productivity and competitiveness” to be taken into account. Dear slogans to Carlo Bonomi, new president of viale dell’Astronomia. Small and medium-sized companies are more supportive because “they see the minimum wage as a factor to avoid unfair competition in the labor market.” Finally, the actors in the field of social policies (European network to combat poverty me Social platform) spoke out to raise minimum wage levels: they should, they explain, “effectively protect against poverty” while maintaining “incentives to maintain a high level of employment.” So, it is the request, they should not be discriminatory for the different sectors.

The different “minimum wages” in Europe and the effects of Covid – Many questions that remain open and questions to be resolved. “The research shows a wide variety of minimum wage practices in Europe and shows a considerable gap in terms of coverage me adequacy to guarantee a dignified life ”, reads the report of EU parliament. This is crucial: a graph contained in the document shows that the monthly minimum wages of the 22 European countries that have already introduced them are lower to the contractual minimums in force in states with no minimum wage, such as Italy. However, this does not take into account the fact that two thirds of the collective agreements in force in Italy are “pirates”: they are contracts stipulated between unions and unrepresentative companies, which impose wages on workers. pejorative with respect to sectoral contracts. Then the question arises of how to set the appropriate level, which must take into account different realities and different countries. In addition, the briefing continues, “the relevant unequal cost of living between rural and urban areas it leaves open the question of the real veracity of establishing a single national minimum wage ”.

But beyond the perplexities, the study concludes, Covid has made an intervention necessary also because it has demonstrated the need to protect workers who are often underpaid: “The Covid lockdown has put the provision of services at the center of the scene quality essentials, as they have allowed the companies to function despite the closures. Many of the frontline workers perform low paid jobs come: cleaners, center employees logistic, committed, Waiters, health workers, health workers farming and food companies, messengers, workers of public transport or ecological operators. Many of these jobs suffer from precarious conditions, such as low wages, and in part from a lack of social and health protection. Furthermore, in a context of recession, frozen wages and cuts are common, as the post-2008 recession has shown. At the same time, many low-wage workers have been affected by the loss of their jobs. ” For this, the EU agency Eurofound in a recent report “concludes that minimum wage policies are an important element in a stabilization policy mix to deal with the effects of Covid-19. According to Eurofound, almost 40% of those interviewed reported that their financial situation has worsened ”. And, in this sense, “minimum income policies“As the Basic income and the similar systems that already exist in all other EU countries will be “equally important”. At the European level “they will be promoted during the German presidency of the European Council.”

The Italian front – The acceleration on the European front was welcomed by the 5 star movement, who has been pushing for the minimum wage since the election campaign: “We can only be more than satisfied,” commented the M5 MEP Daniela Rondinelli“That the European Commission intends to take seriously an EU directive, or a legally binding act. In Eastern European countries there is no strong and robust negotiation in fixing wages and this compresses them. the wage dumping The following is the main cause of relocations that Italy has suffered for years. This distortion of competition in the internal market must end and the minimum wage is the appropriate solution, a measure that will help Italian companies ”. However, the 5 stars ask that two limits be respected: “The minimum wage in each country of the Member State must not be less than 60% of the national average salary and at the same time it must not be less than the average European wage. Only in this way will we have an instrument capable of leveling the wages of European citizens ”, concluded Rondinelli.

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