Shifting Employer Strategies in Light of Institutional Change

Alsos, Kristin; Ødegård, Anne Mette

doi:10.4324/9780429031021-3

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In Norway it was introduced in 2008, through activation of a dormant 1993 law, as a way of regulating the wages of posted migrant workers in shipyards; this mechanism has since been applied to other industries, but remains limited to sectors where temporary migrant workers are present. The discussion around this very much regarded it as a form of minimum wage, or at least a functional minimum wage substitute (Alsos and Ødegård, 2019). In Finland, legal extension is more broadly used, but also serves as an important tool for regulating the wages of posted workers in construction and in metalworking (Lillie, 2012).…”

Section: Extended Collective Agreements As Establishing Minimum Wagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Round Table. Nordic unions and the European Minimum Wage Directive

Lillie

2022

Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research

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The new European Union Minimum Wage Directive (2022/2041) is rightly seen by many as a victory for European labour. It will protect lower-paid workers and promote collective bargaining (Schulten and Müller, 2022). Hassel (2023) regards it as signalling a change in direction for EU politics, from broadly neoliberal marketmaking to social protection and partnership. The Directive explicitly encourages collective bargaining and sets targets to increase it, while also providing guidelines and targets for increasing minimum wages in ways that recognise the diversity of wage determination practices across the EU. The scope and tone of the new Directive sets out an unambiguous purpose and direction, to protect workers and support collective bargaining. This sets it apart from other recent directives, such as the so-called 'Enforcement Directive' (2014/67), which just seeks to enforce existing law, and the Posted Workers Directive (revised) (2018/927), which seeks to 'balance' the rights of firms and workers rather than to protect workers. Just as importantly, its sets out processes for calculating what constitutes an adequate minimum wage (60 per cent of median and 50 per cent of average wages), and mandates that Member States with under 80 per cent collective bargaining coverage should set out implementation plans to increase their coverage.The assent of Nordic unions is testament to the clever design of the compromise behind the proposal. It shows sensitivity to their desire to head off any possibility of Brussels interfering with Nordic collective bargaining systems, while also providing useful mechanisms to push for higher minimum wages and stronger collective bargaining in countries where that is needed. Also notable is the way the Nordic unions overcame their long-held scepticism towards European labour regulations, and specifically their opposition to any mention of a minimum wage manifesting in European legislation. This may reflect a softening of the Nordic unions' stance, but certainly also the Directive's approach, which recognises the centrality of collective bargaining to wage determination in many EU countries.The Finnish discussion of the Directive, for example, was largely focused on reassuring everyone that nothing would change; as a headline in the Uusi Suomi: 'Minimum wage comes to the EUin Finland, no major changes are anticipated' put it (Koho, 2022). It is more or less taken for granted that this is the best possible outcome for Finland, on the assumption that labour standards emanating from Brussels at best do nothing for Finland, and at worst undermine or overrule Finnish standards. I will argue that this perspective takes insufficient account of the usefulness, also to Nordic unions, of minimum wages and EU-wide regulations.Through worker posting and labour migration, cracks are emerging in the Nordic labour markets. In these circumstances, quasi-minimum wages, in the form of extended collective agreements,

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Section: Extended Collective Agreements As Establishing Minimum Wagesmentioning

confidence: 99%