At least 24 million employees in 25 of the 27 EU Member States will earn one more punch in two years at the latest. That’s because all of Europe will have a decent minimum wage by then.
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The two largest groups in Europe, of Christian and Social Democrats, have reached an agreement on this, which they are sending to the rest of the European Parliament today. The Member States, led by the Portuguese socialist António Costa, are also in a hurry. Prime Minister Costa wants to align the member states before handing over his presidency to his Slovenian colleague, the conservative Janez Jansa, on 1 July.
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The two Parliament rapporteurs, Agnes Jongerius (PvdA) and her German colleague Dennis Radtke (EPP), assume a minimum wage that meets a double threshold across Europe: at least 60 percent of the median (half is lower, half higher) and 50 percent of the average wage. For the Netherlands, according to Jongerius, this amounts to an increase of the minimum hourly wage to 14 euros. Now that is 9.72 euros (40-hour working week) or 10.80 euros (for 36 hours).
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Decline
The intervention must end a period of thirty years in which the minimum wage has only deteriorated. “Costa has already shown after the banking crisis that the economy will benefit if you increase the minimum wage,” says Jongerius. “Greece went the other way under pressure from Europe and only got extra misery.”
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She wants a minimum wage ‘of which you can normally support your family with the occasional extra: a laptop for the children or a holiday’. But we are still a long way from that. In at least nine Member States, minimum wages fall through the poverty threshold, in many more Member States entire groups are excluded. Jongerius: ,, Corona has made that worse, especially in low-paid sectors such as retail and tourism. The young people who continued to run for us in supermarkets were seriously underpaid. ”
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Decent hourly wages
Jongerius and Radtke do not limit their proposals to a decent hourly wage. It must become one without deduction of work clothes, tips, end-of-year bonuses or holiday pay. In addition, it should not only apply to ‘normal’ employees, but also to young people (currently minimum youth wages), home workers, seasonal workers, platform workers and ‘false’ self-employed workers. Extensive studies show that job losses are marginal (less than 0.5 percent) and that SMEs (due to growing purchasing power) are certainly benefiting from it. Labor migration is expected to decline slightly.
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Jongerius: ,, The plumber can get a few duppies more expensive, but if that is the price for the abolition of exploitation, we should be happy to pay it. In the meantime, you can see the German car industry rearing up: it is afraid that it will soon lose cheap labor in Eastern Europe. ”“ Employers in the Netherlands, among others, are in favor. “They understand that too much inequality leads to growing tensions, and thus to less productivity.”
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