Giuliano Casola’s analysis of the European Union minimum wage

“The proposal for a European proposal on wage adequacy, the first direct intervention of the Union on the issue of the minimum wage, certainly marks a change, after years of increasing European recommendations in this direction.” This was made clear by President Tiziano True CnelDuring a hearing at the 14th EU Political Commission in the Senate on “Recommendations of the European Parliament and the Council on the Effective Minimum Wage in the European Union”. “The significant positive feedback of the European trade unions, as confirmed by the major Italian confederations, is, above all, motivated by the fact that the legislative body’s preference for the treaty proposal rather than the legislature for setting the minimum wage”. Social participants also underscore the need to consider “more representation” of certain organizations, “President True added. In fact, the EU proposal clearly states, “The protection guaranteed by the minimum wage can be provided through collective agreements, as occurs in the six member states, or through the legal minimum wage as occurs in the 21 member states.” When the minimum wage increases in recent years it is very low compared to other wages or ensures a decent life in most member states that pay the national legal minimum wage. The national legal minimum wage – the EU continues – is less than 60% of the average total wage and / or 50% of the average gross wage in almost all member states. In the nine member states of 2018, the legal minimum wage was not high enough for an individual income earner to reach the poverty line. In addition, certain workers are exempt from national legal minimum wage coverage. Member States with the highest coverage of collective bargaining – the proposal suggests – have the lowest percentage of low-wage workers and the highest minimum wage. However, even in member states that use only collective bargaining, some workers do not have access to the minimum wage protection. The percentage of workers exposed is 10 to 20% in four countries and 55% in the fifth country.

As Sylvia Spatini recalls in Adapt Bulletin n. 34/2020 “In countries with legal minimum wages, very few exceptions (Belgium and France) have bargain coverage of less than 80%; On the other hand, the coverage rate for countries without a legal minimum wage is above 80% (excluding Cyprus). The same proposal underlines the proposal that member states with a collective bargaining coverage rate of more than 70% show a lower percentage of low-wage workers. This proposal is undoubtedly important because it underscores the EU’s greater interest in the economic and social consequences generated by adverse measures and umes in the context of a restructuring strategy, as well as the stabilization and consolidation of adequate wage policy. In Italy, at a time when the renewal of national agreements is underway, the level of negotiated precisely to protect the minimum wage.

In practice, the Italian model cannot be described as having no legal minimum wage, unlike the other 21 European countries, so if the legislative intervention is limited, “in accordance with the trade unions” (as once stated), adequate wage protection will be provided in 2014 for areas excluded from the structural framework of collective bargaining. According to the law). Recognition of one’s own uniqueness can work at a political level, but the legislative process initiated in the Senate will not first address the basic text, signed by then-Labor Commission President Nuncia Catalfo. In the case of Italy this is the crucial part, to avoid it – as Francesco Segessi and Michel Tiraboshi wrote in the Adaptive Bulletin n. 44/2020 – No “shortcut”: “The European Commission resumes this issue with a proposal, not with simple recommendations, which may be another tool that will never hide its intention to move forward. Management, despite the opposition of the majority of social partners, is forcing us to move in the direction of the minimum wage established by law.” , Erga Omnes does not compel the effective awarding of collective agreements, perhaps a law relating to representation in the implementation of Article 39 of the Constitution. How do you apply the rules of the Erga Omnes Agreement, which are based on the common law? This result has been achieved in Italy for decades in the application of Article 36 of the Constitution. According to the jurisprudence of. But the second was the first condition to justify (now shaking and weakening). Thus, one can find a way to identify the general effectiveness of the treaties set by the historic trade unions, avoiding submission in the legal context to Article 39 of the Gino de Taco of the Constitution, meaning Article 19 of the Act. 300/1970? Hic Rhodus hic salta: Either this part is located in the northwest or it is difficult even in Italy to escape the legal minimum wage.

It starts with the difference in hourly wages in EU countries, not entirely, but other factors related to their purchasing power. A note from the Bruno Leoni Institute helps us. The highest average hourly wages calculated in October 2018 were recorded in Denmark (.2 27.2), Luxembourg (€ 19.6), Sweden (.2 18.2), Belgium, Ireland (18.0) € each, Finland (.5 17.5) and Germany (€ 17.2). ). In contrast, the lowest average hourly wages were recorded in Bulgaria (4 2.4), Romania (€ 3.7), Hungary, Lithuania (4 4.4 each), Latvia (€ 4.9), Poland (€ 5.0), Croatia and Portugal (€ 5.4). , Slovakia (€ 5.6). In other words, among member states, the highest national average gross hourly wage is 11 times higher than the lowest in euros. When expressed in PPS (Purchasing Power Standard) the average gross hourly wage varies from 1 to 4 between member countries. Among member states, the highest national average gross hourly wage is 4 times higher than the lowest when expressed in purchasing power parity; This eliminates price level differences between countries. As of October 2018, the highest average earnings per pps were in Denmark (pps 19.2), Germany (pps 16.1), Belgium (pps 15.7), Luxembourg (pps 15, 1 pps), Sweden (14.7 pps) and the Netherlands (14.3 pps). At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest average hourly wages were recorded in Bulgaria (pps 4.6), Portugal (pps 6.0), Latvia (pps 6.4), Lithuania (pps 6.5), Hungary (pps 6.8) and Romania (pps 6.9).