The European Trade Union Movement and the Issue of Statutory Minimum Wages

Abstract

Most countries in Europe have minimum wage legislation, but there are some exceptions such as the Nordic countries. The issue has clearly divided European trade unions and Nordic unions represent a foothold for the resistance to this kind of regulation. To provide a more detailed picture of European labour organizations' arguments for and against minimum wage legislation, data from interviews and surveys as well as documents are used. There is obviously a deep cleavage within the European trade union movement and the chapter also describes how the ETUC has handled the diverging positions.