Debate rages in Germany over minimum wage
(B2) While Germany is one of the last European countries not to have introduced a generalized minimum wage, the controversy is in full swing in the country after the conclusion of an agreement in the postal sector. Some competitors of the public operator, Deutsche Post, have threatened to abandon extension projects (the Dutch TNT), or even to make layoffs (Pin Group, a subsidiary of Axel Springer). For them, the creation of a minimum wage on January 1, 2008 will torpedo the liberalization of the mail market and is an act of unfair competition.
For JC. Trichet: minimum wage reduces productivity
A measure also considered negative by the President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet: "Setting a minimum wage at a level such that it is not in line with productivity reduces the chances of employment for the unemployed and workers less educated," he said at a conference in Berlin reported by the Financial Times. This attitude and these remarks were denounced by the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Olaf Scholz (SPD), in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgmeine Sonntagszeitung. "If an increase of two euros per hour prevents a whole economic model from working, then […] this model is based on wage dumping. If layoffs take place, I hope that many employees will defend themselves in court".
The coalition strategy: step by step
The CDU – SPD coalition government is maintaining its strategy: extending branch by branch an exceptional provision (the law transposing the directive on posted workers) which makes it possible to create a minimum wage in “sectors particularly threatened by wage dumping”. But the question of a general minimum wage remains under debate. "I am sure that the evolution will eventually lead to a legal and general minimum wage," says Scholz. The idea is gaining ground, justifying the daily "Süddeutsche Zeitung", on 6 December. “From the SPD to the CDU via the German trade unions and the Council of Experts, all have evolved”. An awareness linked to the social and wage reality (difficulties of wage negotiations, notion of decent wage, etc.) as well as to political and economic contingencies. Studies show, in fact, that the "creation of a minimum wage does not necessarily kill employment, on the contrary, provided it is set at the right level, neither too high nor too low", explains the daily newspaper of Munich.
The agreement in the post
Some 40.000 postmen should benefit from January 1, 2008 from a minimum hourly wage of between 8 euros (East Germany) and 9,80 euros per hour (West), according to the new collective agreement signed on November 30 between the Verdi services union and the employers' federation of postal services (AGV) which only concerns companies which have more than 50% of their activity devoted to the postal sector. Provision which will be included in the law on posted workers.
