European workers deserve and need a pay rise, partly because workers have been left behind while productivity has increased in Europe – with benefits going to companies and shareholders. But in addition, higher salaries and purchasing power would boost internal demand in the EU, thereby strengthening economic recovery.
A pay rise should help to combat growing inequality in Europe, together with in-work poverty and exploitation of the most vulnerable workers. In 2015, almost 10% of workers in the 28 EU Member States were living at risk of poverty, and the proportion was rising.
The ETUC has launched a Pay Rise campaign which runs until mid-2018 and has been undertaken in close cooperation with national affiliates. More details on the www.payrise.eu website or Twitter #OurPayRise.
The ETUC has run a campaign ‘Europe needs a pay rise’ from February 2017 to June 2018 (Video). Pay rises for all working people across Europe, and closing unfair pay gaps (whether the gender pay gap, the East-West gap gap or other pay injustices) remain a priority for the ETUC. We are also doing all we can to promote and restore collective bargaining: the best way to achieve fair pay rises.
Speech by Katja Lehto-Komulainen, ETUC Deputy General Secretary Dear all, Let me address three points on behalf of the European Trade Union Confederation. The ETUC is proud to be part of the EMIN network – and bus tour - promoting adequate minimum income schemes throughout Europe. - The right to an adequate minimum income is a key demand today: we need to ensure an acceptable and dignified standard of living for all.
New figures calculated by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) show that wage increases in the European Union over the last 16 years would have been FOUR TIMES higher if they had fully reflected productivity increases. It is standard economic theory that wage increases should follow productivity increases. But in Europe productivity has increased far more than wages. From 2000 to 2016 productivity increased three times more than wages in Germany and Croatia, and two times more than wages in Poland and Belgium.
A ground-breaking agreement between German trade union IG Metall and employers in the region of Baden-Württemburg sets a precedent likely to be followed across Germany, and gives a positive example for the whole of Europe. The agreement includes a 4.3 % pay rise from April 2018, plus much greater flexibility including reduced working time to 28 hours for those who want or need it, and a choice for workers (with children still in education or caring for dependent parents) of an additional pay rise in 2019 or extra paid days off.
The right to join a trade union and the right to collective bargaining are basic, human rights recognised by the UN International Labour Organisation. Yet many well-known multi-national companies do NOT recognise trade unions, and do not negotiate with trade unions on pay and working conditions. The International and European Trade Union Confederations (ITUC and ETUC) are joining forces for Human Rights Day (December 10) to name and shame two multi-national brands and household names that refuse to negotiate with trade unions.
Workers in 11 central and eastern EU countries are paid up to €944 less per month than workers in Germany when costs of living are taken into account, according to a study published today by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI). Shockingly, the difference in net monthly wages, when adjusted for the composition of the workforce and structure of the economy, is larger than when only costs of living are considered.
In response to a long-standing demand from trade unions, the Czech government has agreed to wage rises of up to 23% in the social service sector, from July 2017, with the highest increases going to the lowest paid.
People working in countries in the east of the EU earn well under half of the average wage of people in the western, pre-2004 EU15 according to research published today. Workers in 10 east EU countries earn between 42% of west EU wages (in Estonia) to under 18% (in Bulgaria). Only in Slovenia do working people earn more than half, with wages at 60% of the EU 15 average. The east-west EU wage gap was getting smaller through the late 1990s and much of 2000s, but progress stopped in the 2008 economic crisis.
Dear Readers, We have just published the "Europe needs a Pay Rise" special edition newsletter n°1. To read the document, please click here. Enjoy!
Young people and the youth pay gap Young people earn below the average wage in all EU countries. But in some the gap is much wider than in others, and is growing alarmingly. In 2014, the under-30s earned on average 74% of the overall standard wage. But since 2006, that proportion has fallen by two percentage points or more in 16 EU countries: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Spain, France, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.
After 9 years of austerity Europe's public sector workers deserve a pay rise!
On 23rd June, Public Services Day, citizens around the world acknowledge the wide range of education, health, social and other key services delivered all day and everyday by public service workers. This year the European federations for public service (EPSU) and education (ETUCE) highlight the contribution made by millions of public service workers to maintain quality services while suffering the long-term effects of pay cuts and pay freezes. Public service workers do not deserve this treatment.
Over 400 trade union leaders from all over Europe at the ETUC Mid-term Conference in Rome today agreed that "this is the moment for trade unions to be more active than ever in efforts to manage globalisation, digitalisation and climate action to ensure that working people are not left on the scrap heap".
ETUC Mid-term Conference Dear friends, Comrades, Buongiorno a tutte e tutti ! Welcome to this mid-term conference, which is intended to help us to get our heads up, look back over the road we have travelled, and to consolidate our positions in order to reach the goals we have set ourselves.
Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, writes May 1 is our day. It is the day we celebrate the achievements of working people, labour, and their trade unions. Only through trade unions will working people get justice and a fair deal. Strong unions mean effective collective bargaining. Collective bargaining - reaching a fair deal with employers - brings better wages and working conditions for everyone, and reduces the gender pay gap.
Social partners in the textile sector in Germany have agreed a new wage deal that will offer a 4.4% increase overall to 100,000 employees in the Länder of the former West Germany. The accord also raises holiday allowances and payments to workers who take early retirement to work part time. The agreement will apply until 31 January 2019. Negotiations for a collective agreement covering the 30,000 employees in the eastern Länder are now getting underway.
Industrial unions in Sweden have signed a three-year collective agreement, until 2020, that will benefit lower-paid workers most. The unions, including IF Metall, secured a wage deal worth 6.5%. “We went into these agreement negotiations with three clear demands: more money in our wallets, greater allocation to part-time pensions and a clear low-wage effort, all of which we succeeded in getting through,” said IF Metall Chairman Anders Ferbe.