Employers reject European minimum wage bureaucracy of the European Commission - German policy must reject it decisively

Commenting on today's EU minimum wage directive, BDA Managing Director Steffen Kampetersaid:

We reject a European minimum wage bureaucracy as a usurpation of competence by the European Commission. German politicians are called upon to reject this decisively. When it comes to the minimum wage, we must leave the church in the village and with the social partners.

With the Minimum Wage Commission, Germany has an established body that decides on the level of the minimum wage. This has proven its worth: Over the past five years, the representatives of the social partners have achieved reasonable results, as the decision of the Minimum Wage Commission this summer has shown once again. The introduction of new European criteria for determining the level of minimum wages is therefore wrong and should be rejected.

The directive will in no way strengthen collective bargaining and social partnership within the EU. On the contrary: the planned directive weakens collective bargaining autonomy and social partnership, makes crisis management more difficult and thus reduces labour market opportunities. Instead of new regulation, a targeted strengthening of the European social partners would have been appropriate.