Round Table. Nordic unions and the European Minimum Wage Directive

Abstract

The new European Union Minimum Wage Directive (2022/2041) is rightly seen by many as a victory for European labour. It will protect lower-paid workers and promote collective bargaining (Schulten and Müller, 2022). Hassel (2023) regards it as signalling a change in direction for EU politics, from broadly neoliberal marketmaking to social protection and partnership. The Directive explicitly encourages collective bargaining and sets targets to increase it, while also providing guidelines and targets for increasing minimum wages in ways that recognise the diversity of wage determination practices across the EU. The scope and tone of the new Directive sets out an unam-biguous purpose and direction, to protect workers and support collective bargaining. This sets it apart from other recent directives, such as the so-called ‘Enforcement Directive’ (2014/67), which just seeks to enforce existing law, and the Posted Workers Directive (revised) (2018/927), which seeks to ‘balance’ the rights of firms and workers rather than to protect workers. Just as impor-tantly, its sets out processes for calculating what constitutes an adequate minimum wage (60 per cent of median and 50 per cent of average wages), and mandates that Member States with under 80 per cent collective bargaining coverage should set out implementation plans to increase their coverage. The assent of Nordic unions is testament to the clever design of the compromise behind the proposal. It shows sensitivity to their desire to head off any possibility of Brussels interfering with Nordic collective bargaining systems, while also providing useful mechanisms to push for higher minimum wages and stronger collective bargaining in countries where that is needed. Also notable is the way the Nordic unions overcame their long-held scepticism towards European labour regulations, and specifically their opposition to any mention of a minimum wage manifesting in