U.K.
A parliamentary debate on the pay and conditions of care workers has highlighted the fact that many care workers are being denied the minimum wage. Reviewing a report published last year MPs heard that many care workers are not paid for travel time between jobs and pressure of work means than many have little time to spend with clients.
Read more at > Unison
Data from the Wage Indicator pay database covering five countries reveals that many of the key workers who have been on the frontline in the fight against COVID-19 are on below)average wages. The research looked at nine jobs in childcare, call centres, retail, nursing, admin, logistics, warehouses and transport in the UK, German, Netherlands, France and Sweden. In the UK all occupations fell below the national average wage while in Germany it was all but one and in the Netherlands all but two. The situation for these workers was better in France and Sweden.
A review of progress by the JHL union towards closing the gender pay gap reveals that reforming pay structures has had some impact but mainly for higher paid workers. It also shows that equality plans have been positive in terms of work-life balance and issues like discrimination and harassment but have not made much difference in terms of pay. The key challenge set by the union is to be able to compare pay across different collective agreements. Read more at > JHL (EN)
The autumn will see the German parliament debate a range of labour market measures including a possible proposal on a legal minimum wage. The minimum wage campaign being run by the ver.di services union and NGG hotel and catering union is monitoring MPs' views on the issue. All MPs have been sent a questionnaire and 40% have replied so far. It is now possible to see if individual MPs are for or against a minimum wage or still undecided. The website will be regularly updated as more MPs reply to the survey. [Read more at > minimum wage website (DE)->https://www.mindestlohn.de/initiative/mdb
