Europe
MEPs have voted by a large majority to back a demand for minimum income schemes across Europe to meet a target of 60% of national income. The demand was part of a report on active inclusion from UK MEP Jean Lambert that received backing from 256 MEPs with only 19 against and 129 abstentions. The report wants the European Council to agree an EU target whereby national minimum income schemes would provide income support of at least 60% of national median equalised income. It also calls on the Council to agree a timetable for achieving this target in all Member States. In addition, the report highlights the fact that the spread of low pay has lead to a growing number of “working poor” and it suggests that Member States actively consider a minimum wage policy in order to deal with this problem and make work a viable prospect for those distant from the labour market. This issue was taken up by EPSU in 2006 when its Executive Committee adopted a resolution calling for a minimum wage policy that called on Member States with legal minimum wages to increase them to at least 60% of average earnings. This demand is reasserted in a resolution on collective bargaining that will go to the EPSU Congress next month in Brussels that also urges a co-ordinated approach to increasing minimum wages in collective agreements.
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