EMPL Committee vote on Minimum Wages on 11 November 2021
On 11 November, the EMPL Committee voted on the draft report on the Commission proposal for a Directive on adequate minimum wages, and on the mandate to enter interinsitutional negotiations. As outlined in Principle 6 of the Pillar of social Rights, every worker should earn a wage allowing for a decent living wherever they work.
The proposal establishes a framework to improve the adequacy of minimum wages and to increase workers' access to minimum wage protection, while taking into account and fully respecting the specificities of national systems, national competencies, social partners' autonomy and contractual freedom. The Directive also seeks to promote access to minimum wage protection provided by collective agreements and to increase the collective bargaining coverage in Member States, while building and strengthening the social partners' capacity to engage in collective bargaining on wage setting at sector or cross-industry level. The Co-rapporteurs tabled compromises on the Articles and recitals, covering most of the text and amendments tabled in EMPL.