“I am very confident that in the end – concluded Schmit – the Italian government and the Italian social partners will reach a good agreement to strengthen collective bargaining, especially for those who are not very well protected, and will eventually come to the conclusion that it could be important. introduce such a minimum wage system in Italy, but it depends on the Italian government and the Italian social partners ”.
What does the agreement foresee
The directive, explains the Council, is limited to establishing procedures to ensure the adequacy of minimum wages where they exist, to promote collective bargaining to set wages and to increase effective access to minimum wage protection for workers who have them. law under national law.
EU member states that have minimum wages in place will have to establish a procedural framework for setting and updating minimum wages according to a number of criteria.
Periodic updates planned
Council and Parliament have agreed that updates of the minimum wage must take place at least once every two years, or at the latest every four years for countries that use an automatic indexation mechanism. The social partners must be involved in the procedures for setting and updating minimum wages.
Schmit: «In Italy there is a very strong and broad debate on how to strengthen a collective bargaining system in your country and possibly introduce a minimum wage. We will not impose a minimum wage politically, that is not the problem. And I think this tool is a contribution to this debate ». Thus the EU Commissioner for Labor, Nicolas Schmit, in the press conference on the minimum wage agreement.