The most important piece of workers’ legislation at EU level in a generation may be under threat following a non-binding opinion issued today.
Mr Emiliou, who was acting as Advocate General to the Court of Justice of the European Union, has today delivered a highly controversial opinion [Case C-19/23] on the case supported by two member states against the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages.
An initial assessment by the ETUC of the opinion is that it fails to take into consideration, not only the overall objective of the directive of avoiding unfair competition on the basis of low wages, but also a number of legal precedents supporting the EU’s competence to regulate on aspects of protecting pay. In addition, the entirety of the European Social Charter is ignored, which requires the EU and member states to promote fair wages and collective bargaining.
The Adequate Minimum Wages Directive, adopted in 2022, has already encouraged a number of national governments to reexamine the adequacy of their minimum wages, lifting wages for millions of low paid workers. This threshold of decency is now in the crosshairs of the opinion, which shockingly makes the case for competition within the EU based on lowering minimum wages.
The opinion inexplicably calls for the annulment of the whole directive which would also include removing the obligation on member states to have an action plan to promote collective bargaining and to take steps to prevent union busting. These are already obligations on member states arising from the European Social Charter and the fundamental ILO conventions.
The ETUC recalls that the Court of Justice of the European Union is not obliged to follow this opinion and regularly does not follow opinions of Advocate Generals. The ETUC expects the court to uphold its longstanding case law and confirm the directive in its entirety, in line with the legal opinions of the Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the vast majority of member states.
We also remind all member states that the directive remains in force and must be transposed.
ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch said:
“This opinion, if confirmed, would be a huge blow to working people and their trade unions and would completely undermine the objective of social progress enshrined in the EU treaties.
“There should be no complacency. Fair pay is inherent to decent working conditions. The support of working people for the European project is at stake. The EU must be able to protect working people against a race to the bottom based on lowering minimum wages.
“Allowing companies to compete on the lowest wages, without ensuring a floor of decency, and union busting is a one-way street to social dumping.
“Validating this line of argument would have dangerous and far-reaching consequences that would risk undermining years of pain-staking social progress in EU law.
“This same old tired line of argumentation has been used in the past to seek to undermine social progress and it must be ruled out once and for all.”