Source: European Parliament
Directive (EU) 2022/2041[1] establishes a framework for, inter alia, the adequacy of statutory minimum wages and promoting collective bargaining on wage-setting.
It does so in full respect of the autonomy of the social partners and the competence of Member States to set the level of minimum wages, in line with Article 153(5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union(TFEU)[2].
The deadline for the transposition of this directive was 15 November 2024. Greece has already notified its national transposition measures, and the Commission is currently assessing their compliance with the directive.
The transposition of this directive has not led to any decrease in Greece’s statutory minimum wage[3]. In any case, the directive cannot be used as grounds for reducing the general level of protection already provided to workers, in particular with regard to the lowering of minimum wages.
As regards collective bargaining on wages, the directive requires all Member States to promote it and hence its transposition cannot be deemed to undermine it.
In addition, Member States in which the collective bargaining coverage rate is below the threshold of 80%, such as Greece, will have to establish an action plan to promote collective bargaining with a clear timeline and concrete measures to gradually increase this rate.
The directive does not establish a binding coverage rate objective nor obliges employers to conclude collective agreements, as this would be contrary to the principle of autonomy of the social partners.
The Commission will analyse Greece’s action plan to promote collective bargaining once it is notified and will communicate this analysis to the European Parliament and the Council as part of the report foreseen in Article 10(3) of the directive.