Living wages in international and European law

Abstract

A number of countries worldwide provide for a statutory minimum wage. Generally speaking, however, it is not a living wage, although the right to a living wage is guaranteed in a variety of agreements under both international and European law. The Council of Europe’s European Social Charter (ESC), for example, codifies a living wage and, according to the case-law of its supervisory body, the level of 60 per cent of the net average wage is to be taken as the basis for appropriate remuneration. This article argues that the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union also incorporates the right to a living wage, which should be at least 60 per cent of the net average wage. The Charter is legally binding for EU institutions, agencies and other bodies. Member States are bound only to the extent that the material scope of the relevant EU laws has been opened, which is the case when EU law is implemented or when obligations arising out of specific Union legislation are required for the relevant subject area, as will be explained in the article. In purely national situations nevertheless, values laid down in international law have to be observed when interpreting national laws.

Die Europäische Mindestlohnrichtlinie – Paradigmenwechsel hin zu einem Sozialen Europa

“…im Kontext der EU-Grundrechtecharta im Jahr 2000 auch über angemessene Mindestlöhne diskutiert. Schlussendlich findet sich in Artikel 31 der Grundrechtecharta allerdings lediglich ein allgemeiner Verweis auf "gerechte und angemessene Arbeitsbedingungen" (Europäisches Parlament et al 2000), wenngleich diese auch angemessene Löhne umfassen (Zimmer 2019). 2008 forderte das Europäische Parlament den Europäischen Rat in einer Resolution auf, eine europäische Mindestlohninitiative zu starten, mit dem Ziel, alle nationalen Mindestlöhne auf 60% des Durchschnittslohns anzuheben (Europäisches Parlament 2008).…”

What’s in a name? From minimum wages to living wages in Europe

“…During the 20th century the living wage concept found its way into various international documents and conventions (Anker, 2011;Zimmer, 2019 Despite its normative foundations, right from the beginning there was also always an economic justification for the living wage concept (Stabile, 2008(Stabile, , 2016. For Smith and Marx as representatives of the labour theory of value, paying living wages was a necessity for the reproduction of labour as a commodity and for the functioning of a capitalist economy.…”

“…According to Article 153(5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the issue of pay is explicitly excluded from EU social policy competences (De Baere and Gutman, 2017). On the other hand, various international and European conventions call for political action in order to guarantee the right to decent pay (see Zimmer, 2019). Despite the legal uncertainty, however, the EU has a longstanding practice of, at least formally, non-binding recommendations on pay issues, including minimum wages, as in the context of the European Semester, not to mention EU interventionism in countries covered by the EU bailout programme .…”