L’EU tightens on the directive of minimum salary: as early as Tuesday 7 June in Strasbourg a political agreement could arrive on the measure voted by the EU Parliament almost a year ago, which aims to guarantee an income capable of ensuring a decent standard of living for workers and their families. To date the “minimum wage” it is not law only in six countries: Italy, Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Sweden. In the rest of Europe, according to the latest Eurostat data, the minimum wage travels between € 332 per month in Bulgaria and € 2257 in Luxembourg. In France, where last year due to the effect of galloping inflation the minimum wage increased three times (overall by 5.9%), the unions have set themselves the goal of reaching 2 thousand euros per month. In Spain the minimum wage has reached one thousand euros, and the monthly salaries are 14. In Portugal, the union has asked for an increase from 705 euros per month to 800.
In Italy, despite the EU squeeze – and despite the disheartening numbers that come from the increase in inflation and debt dragged first by the Coronavirus pandemic and then by the consequences of the war in Ukraine – the political forces and the social partners remain divided. Just today to give a hand to the minimun wage the Minister of Labor took care of it Andrea Orlando: «On the minimum wage I see positive openings from all sides, there are those who want it cooked and those who want it raw. Let’s see what is the point of contact that allows us to intervene immediately while awaiting a more organic law and that allows us to give an immediate response to low-wage, low-wage workers“. The Minister for Public Administration, Renato Brunettainstead clearly opposes: “The minimum wage by law is not good because it is against our cultural history of industrial relations. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater and value our industrial relations. The salary cannot be moderate but must correspond to productivity ».
The governor of Bank of Italy has a different opinion, Ignazio Visco: «If well studied it is a good thing, there are various positive effects. The risk is if the level is excessive. Automations that can cost you must not be tied to the minimum wage. Several US studies say that the minimum wage under certain conditions is favorable to employment. In France, for example, it was recently introduced. The risk lies in the level, because if it is excessive it can lead to not employing people who may instead want to work below that level and who have a productivity substantially capable of not reaching that level there, but I think it is not such a thing. important”.
Also trade unions are historically split on this issue. The Italians, on the other hand, seem to have clear ideas. According to a recent survey conducted by the research institute SwgL’86 percent of respondents are in favor of a law on wage minimum. And while the EU is one step away from the political agreement on the directive, the message of the European Commissioner for the Economy is giving a boost to the discussion in our country Paul Gentiloni. That in an interview with the Press he pronounced: “The issue of losing the purchasing power of wages and increasing inequalities cannot be ignored: you need the minimum wagerights must be guaranteed to the workers of digital platforms and taxes must be raised to the large multinationals that have emerged victorious from the crises of recent years, first the pandemic and then the war ».
Source: Vanity Fair
