Low pay/minimum wages, Energy, Economic Policy

The collective bargaining committee of the ver.di trade union in the TG GWE bargaining group has voted by nearly three to one to back a new 23-month agreement. The negotiations cover gas, water and energy workers who get a 6.5% pay increase this year (from 1 February) and 3.7% next year – from 1 January. Trainees will see their pay levels increase by 3% for each year of training. Meanwhile the union’s members at ONYX Power have made clear their priorities in the upcoming negotiations where ver.di will be demanding a 12-month agreement with a 14% pay increase for all employees, including

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has highlighted that the combination of inflation and pay trends means that the living standards of European workers have still not recovered from the cost-of-living crisis. Data from the European Trade Union Institute’s Benchmarking Working Europe 2024 shows that pay, after inflation is taken into account, fell by 0.7% in 2023. Workers in Hungary (-3.8%), Czechia (-3.8%), and Italy (-2.6%) faced the biggest falls in purchasing power last year. Germany (-0.9%) and France (-0.6%) were also among the 10 member states where wages failed to catch up

On 13 March, the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) governing body endorsed an agreement on living wages. This acknowledges that decent wages are central to economic and social development and to advance social justice. The document also says that living wages play an essential role in reducing poverty and inequality and ensuring a decent and dignified life. For the ILO, a living wage is the wage level necessary to afford a decent standard of living for workers and their families, taking into account the country circumstances and calculated for the work performed during the normal hours

New research from the European Trade Union Institute looks at the role that institutional and economic factors play in shaping wage floors and protecting workers at the low end of the wage distribution. Using data for the period 2007 to 2021, it shows that wage inequality has on average declined across the EU, primarily due to convergence between countries. In line with expectations, strong institutional support, such as statutory minimum wages with greater bite and a higher collective bargaining coverage rate, are associated with lower inequality and a better position for vulnerable workers

In its latest briefing on the Adequate Minimum Wage Directive, the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) finds that the legislation is already having an impact even before it is fully transposed in all member states. According to the ETUI, the Directive’s double decency threshold for adequate minimum wages of 60% of the gross median wage and 50% of the gross average wage has already influenced developments at national level. The briefing cites examples from Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Romania and the Netherlands where the double threshold or at least one element of it is being taken