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Trade unions and employers: ensure that the EU reconsiders the proposal
This is a discussion article. It is the writer who is responsible for the opinions expressed in the text, not Aftonbladet.
We, the employers’ organizations and the municipal and regional sector unions, believe that the Riksdag and the government should now initiate a subsidiarity test together with other member states and ensure that the European Commission reconsiders the proposal on minimum wages, write the debaters.
Photo: TT (mounting)
DEBATE. European Comission It has tabled a legal minimum wage proposal that, in the long run, risks seriously damaging the Swedish labor market model.
We, the employers’ organizations and the unions in the municipal and regional sector, believe that the Riksdag and the government should now initiate a subsidiarity test together with other member states and ensure that the European Commission reconsiders the proposal.
Sweden has a strong and well-functioning labor market model in which independent employers’ organizations and trade unions agree on terms and wages.
The formation of wages through collective agreements creates conditions for the formation of local wages, which also provides conditions for local self-government of municipalities and regions in these matters. It is a model that the EU should adopt. Instead of legislating minimum wages, the EU should promote wage training based on collective bargaining solutions between the social partners of the Member States.
Regrettably, the EU has demonstrated many times a worrying lack of decision-making power on wage matters.
The Commission establishes the legal basis for a directive in Article 153 (1) of the Lisbon Treaty, which deals with working conditions. However, there is no further reasoning or legal analysis on either Article 153 (5) or on salary conditions in the consultation document.
The exception now presented in the proposal for a directive on minimum wages is written in the sense that Member States are not obliged to introduce legal minimum wages or to declare collective agreements universal.
At the same time, the legislative process itself is far from over and the Commission obviously cannot make any promise that the Swedish party model will not be harmed by the final proposal.
Regardless of what is stated in the text of a directive, the Court of Justice of the European Communities always has the opportunity and freedom to enter and interpret the directive in its own way and we cannot be sure what the ruling will look like in court. .
As social partners, we believe that the wrong instruments are being presented, that is, legislation in the form of a legally binding directive. We believe that there is no EU competence for this, and if this directive is passed, it means a first step for the EU to enter and engage in wage formation through a directive.
The fact that Sweden accepts a directive on wage matters would mean that we are taking a new path that the European Commission can further develop in future legal acts. We want to avoid this.
A concrete tool for the government is the so-called subsidiarity control.
A subsidiarity check of EU legislative proposals gives national parliaments the opportunity to force a reconsideration of EU legislative proposals that are not within the exclusive competence of the EU within eight weeks. The decision of a Member State that a proposal is contrary to the principle of subsidiarity is always examined by the Chamber, which issues a reasoned opinion to the EU institutions.
If the reasoned opinions correspond to at least one third of the votes in Parliament, the Commission should reconsider its proposal.
EU cooperation is based on the division of powers based on the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality between the EU and the Member States, which must always be respected.
Therefore, it is unacceptable for the EU to invest in Swedish wage formation. The government must act and demand a subsidiarity check of the EU proposal on minimum wages. It is clear that the social partners, independent of the State or of the EU, will continue to agree on conditions and wages.
Heike Erkers, President of the SSR Academic Association
Åsa Fahlén, President of the Swedish Teachers Association
Johanna Jaara Åstrand, President of the Swedish Teachers Association
Anders Knape, President of the Swedish municipalities and regions (SKR)
Joakim Larsson, President of Sobona – the employers’ organization of municipal companies
Veronica magnusson, President of Vision
Sineva Ribeiro, president of the Swedish Health Association
Heidi Stensmyren, Swedish Medical Association
Anitha Wijkström, President of the Supervisory Council of the Academic Alliance
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