Om utskottets beslut stoppas imorgon, torsdag, kommer Europaparlaments position att öppnas upp i plenum vid senare tillfälle vilket skulle möjliggöra för nya ställningstaganden från parlamentet i plenum. Därför har EU-rådet skickat nedan upprop till samtliga europaparlamentariker inför morgondagens omröstning:
Dear Honourable Member of the European Parliament
We are contacting you ahead of the important vote of the Plenary on the 25th of November to cordially urge you to vote minus (-) and to not support the committee’s decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations on the Directive on Adequate Minimum wages.
We, the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) and the Council for Negotiation and Cooperation (PTK) represent workers and employers in the private sector in Sweden within the framework of the Labour Market Council for EU Affairs.
On the 11th of November, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs voted on its report on the Minimum Wage Directive and decided to enter into informal interinstitutional negotiations. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the report adopted by the committee would risk undermining national labour market models, the autonomy of social partners and the possibility for pay to be regulated at the Member State level. The proposal would, contrary to the aim of the Directive, risk decreasing the collective bargaining in the Member States, and undermining well-functioning autonomous wage setting systems across the EU.
The decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations without an adequately anchored proposal was hasty, in particular given the far-reaching consequences of this draft legislation.
Since the Commission presented its proposal, we have called into question the legality of the minimum wage proposal in relation to the limitations in the EU Treaty regarding legislation on pay. Both the Council Legal Service and the Parliament’s legal service acknowledged the need to make changes to the Commission’s proposal to make it compatible with the limitations in the Treaty. The committee’s report – which goes much further in the determination of pay – has, however, not yet been analysed in relation to the limitations set out in the Treaty. This is remarkable, given that the committee’s report grants far-reaching individual rights and interfere with autonomous national wage setting systems.
Against this background, the Plenary in the European Parliament should have a say on the content of the European Parliament’s position on the directive on minimum wages. This is only possible if the Parliament rejects the committee’s decision to enter into negotiations and put the Parliament’s position in hands of the Plenary.
We therefore cordially urge you to vote minus (-) and, hence, to reject the committee’s decision to enter into negotiations.
