Activities of Monika VANA related to 2020/0310(COD)
Plenary speeches (1)
Adequate minimum wages in the European Union (debate)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on adequate minimum wages in the European Union
Amendments (30)
Amendment 28 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 1
Recital 1
(1) Pursuant to Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union, the aims of the Union are, inter alia, to promote gender equality and social justice the well-being of its peoples and to work for the sustainable development of Europe based on a highly competitive social market economy.
Amendment 32 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 2 a (new)
Recital 2 a (new)
(2 a) Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union provides for the right to equality between women and men in all areas, including employment, work and pay;
Amendment 33 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 2 b (new)
Recital 2 b (new)
(2 b) Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union provides for the right to non- discrimination on the basis of sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation.
Amendment 34 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 2 c (new)
Recital 2 c (new)
(2 c) Article 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes the right of everyone to fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value, and a decent living for themselves and their families.
Amendment 35 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) The European Social Charter establishes that all workers, including young people, domestic workers and carers, have the right to just conditions of work. It recognises the right of all workers to a fair remuneration sufficient for a decent standard of living for themselves and their families. Article 4 of the Charter recognises the role of freely concluded collective agreements as well as of statutory minimum wage setting mechanisms, to ensure the effective exercise of this right. It recognizes the right to equal pay for work of equal value and the right for workers to equal opportunities and equal treatment in matters of employment and occupation without discrimination. It establishes the right to protection against poverty and social exclusion and the right to a remuneration which gives the worker and their families a decent standard of living.
Amendment 40 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) Chapter II of the European Pillar of Social Rights, proclaimed at Gothenburg on 17 November 2017, establishes a set of principles to serve as a guide towards ensuring fair working conditions. Principle Nº 2 and Nº 3 provide for equality of treatment and opportunities regarding participation in the labour market, terms and conditions of employment and career progression between genders and regardless of racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. Principle No 6 of the European Pillar of Social Rights reaffirms the workers’ right to fair wages that provide for a decent standard of living. It also provides that adequate minimum wages shall be ensured, in a way that provides for the satisfaction of the needs of the worker and his/her family in the light of national economic and social conditions, whilst safeguarding access to employment and incentives to seek work. Furthermore, it recalls that in-work poverty shall be prevented and that all wages shall be set in a transparent and predictable way and respecting the autonomy of the social partners.
Amendment 47 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) Better working and living conditions, including through adequate minimum wages, and pay transparency benefit both workers and businessessociety and the economy in the Union and are a prerequisite for achieving inclusive and sustainable growth. Addressing large differences in the coverage and adequacy of minimum wage protection contributes to improving the fairness of the EU labour market, favours gender equality and promote economic, social progress and upward convergence. Competition in the Single Market should be based on high social standards, innovation and productivity improvements ensuring a level playing field.
Amendment 53 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) Women, young and low-skilled workers migrants and persons with disabilitiesfrom racial or ethnic backgrounds, persons with disabilities, and those who suffer from multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination have a higher probability of being minimum wage or low wage earners than other groups or of being excluded from any form of wage protection. During economic downturns, such as the Covid-19 crisis, the role of minimum wages in protecting low-wage workers becomes increasingly important and is shows the essential toneed of supporting a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery. Addressing minimum wage underlined with strong social protection systems. Rising minimum wage has a potential to contributes to gender equality, closingto fight against the undervaluation of work performed by women and the unjustified low pay in female-dominated sectors and to reduce the gender pay and pension gap as well as elevating women out of poverty.
Amendment 64 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) The Covid-19 pandemicCrisis situations, such as the Covid-19 pandemic have always particularly hit hard on women and female-dominated sectors and other sectors with minimum wage or low wage earners and is having a significant impact on the services sector and small firms, which both have a high share of minimum wage earners. In addition, minimum wages are also important in view of the structural trends that are reshaping labour markets and which are increasingly characterised by high shares of non-standard and precarious work such as platform workers and care and domestic workers. These trends have led to an increased job polarisation resulting in an increasing share of low-paid and low- skilled occupations in most Member States, as well as to higher wage inequality in some of them.
Amendment 74 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) Not all workers in the Union are protected by minimum wages. In some Member States some workers, even though they are covered, receive in practice a remuneration below the statutory minimum wage due to the non-respect of existing rules. In particular, such non-compliance has been found to affect notably women and female-dominated sectors, young workers, people with disabilities and agricultural workerspeople facing direct, indirect or intersectional forms of discrimination, platform workers, care and domestic workers, agricultural seasonal, short-term workers and self-employed. In Member States where minimum wage protection is provided only through collective agreements, the share of workers not covered is estimated to vary from 2% to 55% of all workers.
Amendment 97 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 17
Recital 17
(17) This Directive should apply to workers who have an employment contract or employment relationship as defined by the law, collective agreements or practice in force in each Member State, with consideration to the criteria established by the Court of Justice of the European Union for determining the status of a worker. Provided that they fulfil those criteria, domestic workers, workers in the care sector, on-demand workers, intermittent workers, voucher based- workers, bogus self-employed, platform workers, trainees and apprentices could fall within the scope of this Directive. Genuinely self-employed persons do not fall within the scope of this Directive since they do not fulfil those criteria. The abuse of the status of self- employed persons, as defined in national law, either at national level or in cross- border situations, is a form of falsely declared work that is frequently associated with undeclared work. Bogus self- employment occurs when a person is declared to be self-employed while fulfilling the conditions characteristic of an employment relationship, in order to avoid certain legal or fiscal obligations. Such persons should fall within the scope of this Directive. The determination of the existence of an employment relationship should be guided by the facts relating to the actual performance of the work and not by the parties' description of the relationship.
Amendment 107 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 21
Recital 21
(21) Minimum wages are considered adequate if they are fair in relation to the wage distribution in the country and if they provide a decent standard of living. The adequacy of statutory minimum wages is determined in view of the national socio- economic conditions, including employment growth, competitiveness as well as regional and sectoral developments. Their adequacy should be assessed at least in relation to their purchasing power, to the productivity developments and to their relation to the gross wage levels, distribution and growth. The use of indicators commonly u the at-risk-of- poverty rate before social transfer and the gender pay gap. The adequacy of a minimum wage recognised at international level, isuch ast 60% of the gross median wage and 50% of the gross average wage, can help guide the assessment of minimum wage adequacy in relation to the gross level of wages.
Amendment 111 #
(21 a) The establishment of minimum wages across the EU is a step in the right direction in the fight against in-work poverty but insufficient to eradicate poverty, especially female poverty and ensure a decent living for all. Additional and complementary measures such as the adoption of minimum income schemes are therefore essential in order to achieve the goals and principles of the European Pilar of Social Rights and ensure that everyone has the right to a life in dignity at all stages of life, and effective access to enabling goods and services.
Amendment 117 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 22 a (new)
Recital 22 a (new)
(22 a) Given the over-representation of women in low-paying jobs, the establishment of minimum wages can make significant contributions towards lower the existing gender pay gaps provided that they are stablished at levels that promote equal opportunities for women to enter and stay in the labour market and that there are no discrimination among workers or exclusions that could perpetuate gender pay differences and the undervaluation of women’s work, embedded in traditional differentials between sectors and occupations;
Amendment 133 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 28
Recital 28
(28) The reforms and measures adopted by the Member States to promote adequate minimum wage protection of workers, while being steps in the right direction, have not been comprehensive and systematicfailed to address the gender employment and pay gap and in-work poverty. Moreover, individual countries may be little inclined to improve the adequacy and coverage of minimum wages because of the perception that this could negatively affect their external cost competitiveness. Since the objectives of this Directive cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, but can rather, by reason of their scale and effects, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.
Amendment 150 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) setting adequate levels of minimum wages; that provide for a decent standard of living and contribute to reducing wage inequality and the gender pay gap;
Amendment 154 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) access of all workers to minimum wage protection without discrimination, , in the form of wages set out by collective agreements or in the form of a statutory minimum wage where it exists.
Amendment 172 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1
Article 2 – paragraph 1
This Directive applies to all workers without discrimination in the Union who have an employment contract or employment relationship as defined by law, collective agreements or practice in force in each Member State, with consideration to the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Amendment 198 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1
Article 5 – paragraph 1
1. Member States with statutory minimum wages shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the setting and updating of statutory minimum wages contribute to combating poverty, promoting social cohesion, and reducing wage and gender inequalities and are guided by criteria set to promote adequacy with the aim to achieve decent working and living conditions, social cohesion and upward convergence. Member States shall define those criteria in accordance with their national practices, either in relevant national legislation, in decisions of the competent bodies or in tripartite agreements. The criteria shall be defined in a stable and clear way.
Amendment 208 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 5 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) the general level of gross wages and their distribution with the objective of reducing social and gender inequalities;;
Amendment 209 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 5 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) the growth rate of gross wages with the objective of reducing wage inequalities;
Amendment 212 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 2 – point d a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 2 – point d a (new)
(d a) (e) the gender pay gap, with the objective of eradicating it;
Amendment 226 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – title
Article 6 – title
Amendment 228 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 1
Article 6 – paragraph 1
1. Member States mayshall not allow different rates of statutory minimum wages for specific groups of workers. Member States shall keep these variations to a minimum, and ensure that any variation is non- discriminatory, proportionate, limited in time if relevant, and objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim and shall enforce minimum wages in a non- discriminatory manner.
Amendment 234 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 2
Article 6 – paragraph 2
2. Member States mayshall not allow deductions by law that reduce the remuneration paid to workers to a level below that of the statutory minimum wage. Member States shall ensure that these deductions from statutory minimum wages are necessary, objectively justified and proportionate.
Amendment 241 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point d
(d) the collection of data disaggregated by gender, and the carrying out of studies for the information of statutory minimum wage setting authorities;
Amendment 252 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – point a – point ii
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – point a – point ii
Amendment 254 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – point a – point iii
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – point a – point iii
Amendment 257 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – point a – point iv
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – point a – point iv
(iv) the rate of collective bargaining coverage and progress made to increase coverage, particularly for vulnerable workers.
Amendment 263 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Article 10 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Member States shall provide the statistics and information referred to in this paragraph anonymized and disaggregated by gender, age, disability, company size and sector. and when possible by racial and ethnic background. Member states shall conduct a gender impact analysis with respect to coverage and adequacy on this basis.