Directive 2022/2041 - Adequate minimum wages in the EU - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 275/33

Pursuant to Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), the aims of the Union are, inter alia, to promote the well-being of its peoples and to work for the sustainable development of Europe based on a highly competitive social market economy, aiming to ensure full employment and social progress, a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment, while promoting social justice and equality between women and men. Pursuant to Article 9 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Union is to take into account, inter alia, requirements linked to the promotion of a high level of employment, the guarantee of adequate social protection, and the fight against social exclusion.

Article 151 TFEU provides that the Union and the Member States, having in mind fundamental social rights such as those set out in the European Social Charter (ESC), have as their objectives, inter alia, the promotion of employment, improved living and working conditions, so as to make possible their harmonisation while the improvement is being maintained, proper social protection and dialogue between management and labour.

Article 31 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (4) (the ‘Charter’) provides for the right of every worker to working conditions which respect his or her health, safety and dignity. Article 27 of the Charter provides for the right of workers to information and consultation. Article 28 of the Charter provides for the right of workers and employers, or their respective organisations, in accordance with Union law and national laws and practices, to negotiate and conclude collective agreements at the appropriate levels. Article 23 of the Charter provides for the right to equality between women and men in all areas, including employment, work and pay.

The ESC establishes that all workers 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. It also 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, the right of all workers and employers to organise in local, national and international organisations for the protection of their economic and social interests and the right to bargain collectively.

Chapter II of the European Pillar of Social Rights (the ‘Pillar’), proclaimed at Gothenburg on 17 November 2017, establishes a set of principles to serve as a guide towards ensuring fair working conditions. Principle No 6 of the Pillar reaffirms workers’ right to fair wages that provide for a decent standard of living. It also provides that adequate minimum wages are to be ensured, in a way that provides for the satisfaction of the needs of the worker and his or her family in light of national economic and social conditions, while safeguarding access to employment and incentives to seek work. Furthermore, it recalls that in-work poverty is to be prevented and that all wages are to be set in a transparent and predictable way, according to national practices and respecting the autonomy of the social partners. Principle No 8 of the Pillar provides that the social partners are to be consulted on the design and implementation of economic, employment and social policies according to national practices and that they are to be encouraged to negotiate and conclude collective agreements in matters relevant to them, while respecting their autonomy and the right to collective action.

Guideline 5 in the annex to Council Decision (EU) 2020/1512 (5) calls on Member States that have in place national mechanisms for the setting of statutory minimum wages to ensure an effective involvement of social partners in wage-setting, providing for fair wages that enable a decent standard of living, while paying particular attention to lower and middle income groups with a view to upward convergence. That Guideline also calls on Member States to promote social dialogue and collective bargaining with a view to wage-setting. It also calls on Member States and the social partners to ensure that all workers have adequate and fair wages by benefitting from collective agreements or adequate statutory minimum wages, and taking into account their impact on competitiveness, job creation and in-work poverty, while respecting national practices. The Commission communication of 17 September 2020 entitled ‘Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy 2021’ states that Member States should adopt measures to ensure fair working conditions. Moreover, the Commission communication of 17 December 2019 entitled ‘Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy 2020’ recalled that, in the context of growing social divides, it is important to ensure that each worker earns a fair wage. Country-specific recommendations have been issued to a number of Member States in the field of minimum wages with the aim of improving the setting and updating of minimum wages.

Better living and working conditions, including through adequate minimum wages, benefit workers and businesses in the Union as well as society and the economy in general and are a prerequisite for achieving fair, inclusive and sustainable growth. Addressing large differences in the coverage and adequacy of minimum wage protection contributes to improving the fairness of the Union’s labour market, to preventing and reducing wage and social inequalities, and to promoting economic and social progress and upward convergence. Competition in the internal market should be based on high social standards, including a high level of worker protection and the creation of quality jobs, as well as on innovation and improvements in productivity, while ensuring a level playing field.

When set at adequate levels, minimum wages, as provided for in national law or collective agreements, protect the income of workers, in particular of disadvantaged workers, help ensure a decent living, as pursued by International Labour Organization (ILO) Minimum Wage Fixing Convention No 131 (1970). Minimum wages that provide for a decent standard of living and thus meet a threshold of decency can contribute to the reduction of poverty at national level and to sustaining domestic demand and purchasing power, strengthen incentives to work, reduce wage inequalities, the gender pay gap and in-work poverty, and limit the fall in income during economic downturns.

In-work poverty in the Union has increased over the past decade and more workers are experiencing poverty. During economic downturns, the role of adequate minimum wages in protecting low-wage workers is particularly important, as they are more vulnerable to the consequences of such downturns, and is essential for the purpose of supporting a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery, which should lead to an increase in quality employment. To ensure sustainable recovery, it is vital that businesses, in particular microenterprises and small enterprises, thrive. In view of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to assess the adequacy of wages in low-paid sectors that have proven to be essential and of great social value during the crisis.

Women, younger workers, migrant workers, single parents, low-skilled workers, persons with disabilities, and in particular persons who suffer from multiple forms of discrimination, still have a higher probability of being minimum wage or low wage earners than other groups. Given the over-representation of women in low-paid jobs, improving the adequacy of minimum wages contributes to gender equality, closing the gender pay and pension gap, as well as elevating women and their families out of poverty, and contributes to sustainable economic growth in the Union.

The crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on the services sector, microenterprises and small enterprises, which have a high share of low-wage and minimum-wage earners. Minimum wages are therefore also important in view of the structural trends that are reshaping labour markets and which are increasingly characterised by high shares of precarious and non-standard forms of work, often including part-time, seasonal, platform and temporary agency workers. Those trends have led, in many cases, to an increased job polarisation resulting in an increasing share of low-paid and low-skilled occupations and sectors in most Member States, as well as to higher wage inequality in some of them. It is more difficult for workers with non-standard contracts to organise and negotiate for collective agreements.

While minimum wage protection exists in all Member States, in some that protection stems from legislative or administrative provisions and from collective agreements while in others it is provided exclusively through collective agreements. The different national traditions in the Member States should be respected.

Minimum wage protection provided for in collective agreements in low-paid occupations is adequate and therefore provides a decent standard of living in most cases, and has proven to be an effective means by which to reduce in-work poverty. In several Member States, statutory minimum wages are usually low compared to other wages in the economy. In 2018, the statutory minimum wage did not provide sufficient income for a single minimum-wage earner to reach the at-risk-of-poverty threshold in nine Member States.

Not all workers in the Union are effectively protected by minimum wages, as in some Member States some workers, even though they are covered, receive a lower remuneration than the statutory minimum wage in practice, due to non-compliance with existing rules. Such non-compliance has been found to affect, in particular, women, young workers, low-skilled workers, migrant workers, single parents, persons with disabilities, workers in non-standard forms of employment such as temporary workers and part-time workers, and agricultural and hospitality workers, which as a consequence drives down wages. In Member States where minimum wage protection is provided for in collective agreements alone, the share of workers not covered is estimated to vary from 2 % to 55 % of all workers.

The United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires that workers with disabilities, including those in sheltered employment, receive equal remuneration for work of equal value. That principle is also relevant with regard to minimum wage protection.

While strong collective bargaining, in particular at sector or cross-industry level, contributes to ensuring adequate minimum wage protection, traditional collective bargaining structures have been eroding during recent decades, due, inter alia, to structural shifts in the economy towards less unionised sectors and to the decline in trade union membership, in particular as a consequence of union-busting practices and the increase of precarious and non-standard forms of work. In addition, sectoral and cross-industry level collective bargaining came under pressure in some Member States in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. However, sectoral and cross-industry level collective bargaining is an essential factor for achieving adequate minimum wage protection and therefore needs to be promoted and strengthened.

The Commission has consulted management and labour in a two-stage process with regard to possible action to address the challenges related to adequate minimum wage protection in the Union, in accordance with Article 154 TFEU. There was no agreement among the social partners to enter into negotiations with regard to those matters. It is, however, important to take action at Union level, while respecting the principle of subsidiarity, to improve living and working conditions in the Union, in particular the adequacy of minimum wages, taking into account the outcomes of the consultation of the social partners.

With a view to improving living and working conditions as well as upward social convergence in the Union, this Directive establishes minimum requirements at Union level and sets out procedural obligations for the adequacy of statutory minimum wages, and enhances effective access of workers to minimum wage protection, in the form of a statutory minimum wage where it exists, or provided for in collective agreements as defined for the purposes of this Directive. This Directive also promotes collective bargaining on wage-setting.

In accordance with Article 153(5) TFEU, this Directive neither aims to harmonise the level of minimum wages across the Union nor does it aim to establish a uniform mechanism for setting minimum wages. It does not interfere with the freedom of Member States to set statutory minimum wages or to promote access to minimum wage protection provided for in collective agreements, in accordance with national law and practice and the specificities of each Member State and in full respect for national competences and the social partners’ right to conclude agreements. This Directive does not impose and should not be construed as imposing an obligation on the Member States where wage formation is ensured exclusively via collective agreements to introduce a statutory minimum wage or to declare collective agreements universally applicable. Moreover, this Directive does not establish the level of pay, which falls within the right of the social partners to conclude agreements at national level and within the relevant competence of Member States.

This Directive takes into account that, in accordance with ILO Maritime Labour Convention (2006) (6), as amended, Member States who ratified that Convention are, after consulting representative ship-owners’ and seafarers’ organisations, to establish procedures for determining minimum wages for seafarers. Representative ship-owners’ and seafarers’ organisations are to participate in such procedures. In light of their specific nature, the acts of Member States resulting from such procedures should not be subject to the rules on statutory minimum wages set out in Chapter II of this Directive. Such acts should not interfere with free collective bargaining between ship-owners or their organisations and seafarers’ organisations.

While complying with Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7), 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 (Court of Justice) for determining the status of a worker. Provided that they fulfil those criteria, workers in both the private and the public sectors, as well as domestic workers, on-demand workers, intermittent workers, voucher-based workers, platform workers, trainees, apprentices and other non-standard workers, as well as bogus self-employed and undeclared workers 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.

Well-functioning collective bargaining on wage-setting is an important means by which to ensure that workers are protected by adequate minimum wages that therefore provide for a decent standard of living. In the Member States with statutory minimum wages, collective bargaining supports general wage developments and therefore contributes to improving the adequacy of minimum wages as well as the living and working conditions of workers. In the Member States where minimum wage protection is provided for exclusively by collective bargaining, their level as well as the share of protected workers are directly determined by the functioning of the collective bargaining system and the collective bargaining coverage. Strong and well-functioning collective bargaining together with a high coverage of sectorial or cross-industry collective agreements strengthen the adequacy and the coverage of minimum wages.

Minimum wage protection through collective agreements is beneficial to workers and employers as well as businesses. In some Member States there are no statutory minimum wages. In those Member States, wages, including minimum wage protection, are provided for exclusively by collective bargaining between the social partners. Average wages in those Member States are among the highest in the Union. Those systems are characterised by very high collective bargaining coverage as well as high levels of affiliation to both the employer associations and trade unions. Minimum wages that are provided for in collective agreements that have been declared universally applicable without any discretion of the declaring authority as to the content of the applicable provisions should not be considered to be statutory minimum wages.

In a context of declining collective bargaining coverage, it is essential that the Member States promote collective bargaining, facilitate the exercise of the right of collective bargaining on wage-setting and thereby enhance the wage-setting provided for in collective agreements to improve workers’ minimum wage protection. Member States have ratified ILO Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention No 87 (1948) and ILO Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention No 98 (1949). The right to bargain collectively is recognised under those ILO conventions, under ILO Labour Relations (Public Services) Convention No 151 (1978) and ILO Collective Bargaining Convention No 154 (1981), as well as under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the ESC. Articles 12 and 28 of the Charter guarantee, respectively, the freedom of assembly and association and the right of collective bargaining and action. According to its preamble, the Charter reaffirms those rights as they result, in particular, from the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Social Charters adopted by the Union and by the Council of Europe. Member States should take, as appropriate and in accordance with national law and practice, measures promoting collective bargaining on wage-setting. Such measures might include, among others, measures easing the access of trade union representatives to workers.

Member States with a high collective bargaining coverage tend to have a small share of low-wage workers and high minimum wages. Member States with a small share of low-wage earners have a collective bargaining coverage rate above 80 %. Similarly, the majority of the Member States with high levels of minimum wages relative to the average wage have a collective bargaining coverage above 80 %. Therefore, each Member State with a collective bargaining coverage rate below 80 % should adopt measures with a view to enhancing such collective bargaining. Each Member State with a collective bargaining coverage below a threshold of 80 % should provide a framework of enabling conditions for collective bargaining, and establish an action plan to promote collective bargaining to progressively increase the collective bargaining coverage rate. In order to respect the autonomy of the social partners, which includes their right to collective bargaining and excludes any obligation to conclude collective agreements, the threshold of 80 % of collective bargaining coverage should only be construed as an indicator triggering the obligation to establish an action plan.

The action plan should be reviewed on a regular basis, at least every five years, and, if needed, revised. The action plan and any update thereof should be notified to the Commission and be made public. Each Member State should be able to decide on the appropriate form of its action plan. An action plan that a Member State has adopted before the entry into force of this Directive may be considered to be an action plan under this Directive provided that it contains actions to effectively promote collective bargaining and fulfils the obligations under this Directive. Each Member State should establish such an action plan after consulting the social partners or by agreement with them, or, following a joint request by the social partners, as agreed between them. Member States’ collective bargaining coverage rates vary significantly owing to a number of factors, including national tradition and practice as well as historic context. This should be taken into account when analysing progress towards a higher collective bargaining coverage, particularly with regard to the action plan provided for in this Directive.

Sound rules, procedures and effective practices for setting and updating statutory minimum wages are necessary to deliver adequate minimum wages, while safeguarding existing and creating new employment opportunities, a level playing field and the competitiveness of firms including microenterprises, small enterprises and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Those rules, procedures and practices include a number of components to contribute to the adequacy of statutory minimum wages, including criteria to guide Member States in setting and updating statutory minimum wages and indicators to assess their adequacy, regular and timely updates, the existence of consultative bodies and the involvement of the social partners. A timely and effective involvement of the latter in the setting and updating of statutory minimum wages as well as in the establishment or modification of automatic indexation mechanisms, where they exist, is another element of good governance that allows for an informed and inclusive decision-making process. Member States should provide the social partners with relevant information on statutory minimum wage-setting and updating. Giving the social partners the possibility to provide opinions, and to receive a reasoned response to opinions expressed prior to the presentation of proposals, on statutory minimum wage-setting and updating and before any decisions are taken could contribute to the proper involvement of the social partners in that process.

Member States which use an automatic indexation mechanism, including semi-automatic mechanisms in which a minimal obligatory increase of statutory minimum wage is at least guaranteed, should also carry out the procedures for updating the statutory minimum wages, at least every four years. Those regular updates should consist of an evaluation of the minimum wage taking into account the guiding criteria, followed, if necessary, by a modification of the amount. The frequency of the automatic indexation adjustments on the one hand, and the updates of the statutory minimum wages on the other might differ. Member States where automatic or semi-automatic indexation mechanisms do not exist should update their statutory minimum wage at least every two years.

Minimum wages are considered to be adequate if they are fair in relation to the wage distribution in the relevant Member State and if they provide a decent standard of living for workers based on a full-time employment relationship. The adequacy of statutory minimum wages is determined and assessed by each Member State in view of its national socioeconomic conditions, including employment growth, competitiveness and regional and sectoral developments. For the purpose of that determination, Member States should take into account purchasing power, long-term national productivity levels and developments, as well as wage levels wage distribution and wage growth.

Among other instruments, a basket of goods and services at real prices established at national level can be instrumental to determining the cost of living with the aim of achieving a decent standard of living. In addition to material necessities such as food, clothing and housing, the need to participate in cultural, educational and social activities could also be taken into consideration. It is appropriate to consider the setting and updating of statutory minimum wages separately from income support mechanisms. Member States should use indicators and associated reference values to guide their assessment of statutory minimum wage adequacy. The Member States might choose among indicators commonly used at international level and/or indicators used at national level. The assessment might be based on reference values commonly used at international level such as the ratio of the gross minimum wage to 60 % of the gross median wage and the ratio of the gross minimum wage to 50 % of the gross average wage, which are currently not met by all Member States, or the ratio of the net minimum wage to 50 % or 60 % of the net average wage. The assessment might also be based on reference values associated to indicators used at national level, such as the comparison of the net minimum wage with the poverty threshold and the purchasing power of minimum wages.

Without prejudice to the competence of Member States to set the statutory minimum wage and to allow for variations and deductions, it is important to avoid variations and deductions being used widely, as they risk having a negative impact on the adequacy of minimum wages. It should be ensured that variations and deductions respect the principles of non-discrimination and proportionality. Variations and deductions should therefore pursue a legitimate aim. Examples of such deductions might be the recovery of overstated amounts paid or deductions ordered by a judicial or administrative authority. Other deductions, such as those related to the equipment necessary to perform a job or deductions of allowances in kind, such as accommodation, present a high risk of being disproportionate. Moreover, nothing in this Directive should be construed as imposing an obligation on Member States to introduce any variations of or deductions from minimum wages.

An effective enforcement system, including reliable monitoring, controls and field inspections, is necessary to ensure the functioning of and compliance with national statutory minimum wage frameworks. To strengthen the effectiveness of enforcement authorities, close cooperation with the social partners is also needed, including to address critical challenges such as those related to abusive sub-contracting, bogus self-employment, non-recorded overtime or health and safety risks linked to an increase in work intensity. The capabilities of enforcement authorities should also be developed, in particular through training and guidance. Routine and unannounced visits, judicial and administrative proceedings and penalties in the case of infringements are important means by which to dissuade employers from effecting infringements.

The effective implementation of minimum wage protection set out by legal provisions or provided for in collective agreements is essential in the awarding and the performance of public procurement and concession contracts. Non-respect for collective agreements providing for minimum wage protection may indeed occur in the execution of such contracts or in the sub-contracting chain thereafter, resulting in workers being paid less than the wage level agreed in the sectoral collective agreements. To prevent such situations, in accordance with Articles 30(3) and 42(1) of Directive 2014/23/EU (8), Articles 18(2) and 71(1) of Directive 2014/24/EU (9) and Articles 36(2) and 88(1) of Directive 2014/25/EU (10), of the European Parliament and the Council, public procurement contracting authorities and contracting entities are to take appropriate measures, including the possibility to introduce contract performance conditions, and ensure that economic operators apply to their workers the wages provided for in collective agreements for the relevant sector and geographical area and respect the rights of workers and trade unions arising from ILO Freedom of Association and the Protection of the Right to Organise Convention No 87 (1948) and ILO Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention No 98 (1949), as referred to in those Directives, in order to abide by applicable obligations in the field of labour law. However, this Directive does not create any additional obligation in relation to those Directives.

For applicants for financial support from Union funds and programmes under Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council (11)and the enabling conditions therein, the rules for public procurement and concessions should be applied adequately, including with regard to compliance with collective agreements provisions.

Reliable monitoring and data collection are essential for effective minimum wage protection. For the purposes of data collection, Member States may rely on sufficiently representative sample surveys, national databases, harmonised data from Eurostat and other publicly accessible sources such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. In exceptional cases where accurate data is not available, Member States might use estimates. Employers, in particular microenterprises and other SMEs, should not bear an unnecessary administrative burden with regard to the implementation of data collection requirements. The Commission should report every second year to the European Parliament and to the Council its analysis of levels and developments in the adequacy and coverage of statutory minimum wages as well as the collective bargaining coverage on the basis of data and information to be provided by Member States.

In addition, progress should be monitored in the framework of the process of economic and employment policy coordination at Union level. In that context, the Council or the Commission can request the Employment Committee and the Social Protection Committee, in accordance with Articles 150 and 160 TFEU respectively, to examine, in their respective area of competence, the development of the collective bargaining coverage and the adequacy of statutory minimum wages in the Member States on the basis of the report produced by the Commission and other multilateral surveillance tools such as benchmarking. During such an examination, the Committees are to involve the social partners at Union level, including cross-sectoral social partners, in accordance with Articles 150 and 160 TFEU respectively.

Workers should have easy access to comprehensive information on statutory minimum wages as well as on minimum wage protection provided for in universally applicable collective agreements to ensure transparency and predictability as regards their working conditions, including for persons with disabilities in accordance with Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the Council (12).

Workers and workers’ representatives, including those who are trade union members or representatives, should be in a position to exercise their right of defence when their rights relating to minimum wage protection are provided for in national law or collective agreements and have been violated. In order to prevent workers from being deprived of their rights provided for in national law or collective agreements and without prejudice to specific forms of redress and dispute resolution provided for in collective agreements, including systems of collective dispute resolution, Member States should take the necessary measures to ensure that workers have access to effective, timely and impartial dispute resolution and a right to redress, as well as effective judicial and/or administrative protection from any form of detriment, if they decide to exercise their right of defence. Social partners’ involvement in the further development of impartial dispute resolution mechanisms in Member States can be beneficial. Workers should be informed about the redress mechanisms for the purpose of exercising their right to redress.

The Commission should conduct an evaluation providing the basis for a review on the effective implementation of this Directive. The European Parliament and the Council should be informed of the results of that review.

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 always been comprehensive and systematic. Moreover, action taken at Union level to improve the adequacy and coverage of minimum wages can contribute to further improving living and working conditions in the Union and mitigating concerns about possible adverse economic effects resulting from isolated measures of Member States. 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 TEU. 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.

This Directive lays down procedural obligations as minimum requirements, thus leaving untouched Member States’ prerogative to introduce and maintain more favourable provisions. Rights acquired under the existing national legal framework should continue to apply, unless more favourable provisions are introduced by this Directive. The implementation of this Directive cannot be used to reduce existing rights for workers, nor can it constitute valid grounds for reducing the general level of protection afforded to workers in the field covered by this Directive, including, in particular, with regard to the lowering or abolition of minimum wages.

In implementing this Directive Member States should avoid imposing unnecessary administrative, financial and legal constraints, in particular if they hold back the creation and development of SMEs. Member States are therefore encouraged to assess the impact of their transposition measures on SMEs in order to ensure that they are not disproportionately affected, paying particular attention to microenterprises and to the administrative burden, and to publish the results of such assessments. If Member States find that SMEs are disproportionately affected by the transposition measures, they should consider introducing measures to support SMEs to adjust their remuneration structures to the new requirements.

Regulations (EU) 2021/240 (13) and (EU) 2021/1057 (14) of the European Parliament and of the Council are available to Member States to develop or improve the technical aspects of minimum wage frameworks, including on the assessment of adequacy, monitoring and data collection, broadening access, as well as on enforcement and on general capacity building relating to the implementation of those frameworks. In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/1057, Member States are to allocate an appropriate amount to the capacity building of the social partners,

adequacy of statutory minimum wages with the aim of achieving decent living and working conditions;

promoting collective bargaining on wage-setting;

enhancing effective access of workers to rights to minimum wage protection where provided for in national law and/or collective agreements.

where wage formation is ensured exclusively via collective agreements, to introduce a statutory minimum wage; or

to declare any collective agreement universally applicable.

‘minimum wage’ means the minimum remuneration set by law or collective agreements that an employer, including in the public sector, is required to pay to workers for the work performed during a given period;

‘statutory minimum wage’ means a minimum wage set by law or other binding legal provisions, with the exclusion of minimum wages set by collective agreements that have been declared universally applicable without any discretion of the declaring authority as to the content of the applicable provisions;

‘collective bargaining’ means all negotiations which take place according to national law and practice in each Member State between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the one hand, and one or more trade unions on the other, for determining working conditions and terms of employment;

‘collective agreement’ means a written agreement regarding provisions on working conditions and terms of employment concluded by the social partners that have the capacity to bargain on behalf of workers and employers respectively according to national law and practice, including collective agreements that have been declared universally applicable;

‘collective bargaining coverage’ means the share of workers at national level to whom a collective agreement applies, calculated as the ratio of the number of workers covered by collective agreements to the number of workers whose working conditions may be regulated by collective agreements in accordance with national law and practice.

promote the building and strengthening of the capacity of the social partners to engage in collective bargaining on wage-setting, in particular at sector or cross-industry level;

encourage constructive, meaningful and informed negotiations on wages between the social partners, on an equal footing, where both parties have access to appropriate information in order to carry out their functions in respect of collective bargaining on wage-setting;

take measures, as appropriate, to protect the exercise of the right to collective bargaining on wage-setting and to protect workers and trade union representatives from acts that discriminate against them in respect of their employment on the grounds that they participate or wish to participate in collective bargaining on wage-setting;

for the purpose of promoting collective bargaining on wage-setting, take measures, as appropriate, to protect trade unions and employers’ organisations participating or wishing to participate in collective bargaining against any acts of interference by each other or each other’s agents or members in their establishment, functioning or administration.

the purchasing power of statutory minimum wages, taking into account the cost of living;

the general level of wages and their distribution;

the growth rate of wages;

long-term national productivity levels and developments.

the selection and application of criteria for the determination of the level of the statutory minimum wage, and the establishment of an automatic indexation formula and its modification where such formula exists, referred to in Article 5(1), (2) and (3);

the selection and application of indicative reference values referred to in Article 5(4) for the assessment of the adequacy of statutory minimum wages;

the updates of statutory minimum wages referred to in Article 5(5);

the establishment of variations and deductions in statutory minimum wages referred to in Article 6;

the decisions both on the collection of data and the carrying out of studies and analyses to provide information to authorities and other relevant parties involved in statutory minimum wage-setting.

provide for effective, proportionate and non-discriminatory controls and field inspections conducted by labour inspectorates or the bodies responsible for the enforcement of statutory minimum wages;

develop the capability of enforcement authorities, in particular through training and guidance, to proactively target and pursue non-compliant employers.

the rate and development of collective bargaining coverage;

for statutory minimum wages:

for minimum wage protection provided for only in collective agreements: