Pay Rise

European workers deserve and need a pay rise, partly because workers have been left behind while productivity has increased in Europe – with benefits going to companies and shareholders. But in addition, higher salaries and purchasing power would boost internal demand in the EU, thereby strengthening economic recovery.

A pay rise should help to combat growing inequality in Europe, together with in-work poverty and exploitation of the most vulnerable workers. In 2015, almost 10% of workers in the 28 EU Member States were living at risk of poverty, and the proportion was rising.

The ETUC has launched a Pay Rise campaign which runs until mid-2018 and has been undertaken in close cooperation with national affiliates. More details on the www.payrise.eu website or Twitter #OurPayRise.

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  • 07.12.2023 Document

    Letter in support of Commerce workers in Austria

    Across Europe, the real wages of millions of workers suffered a reduction not seen for many years. Now more than ever, ETUC calls for a pay rise: The cost of living crisis is putting additional pressure on workers who struggle to afford the most basic standard of living. Protecting purchasing power in the current cost of living crisis and closing the gap between high and low wages is crucial. Wage increases have, for too long, lagged behind productivity in many Member States.
  • 11.09.2023 Press release

    Dividends rising up to 13 faster than pay

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    Payouts to shareholders are rising up to 13 times faster in Europe than pay for working people, an analysis by the European Trade Union Confederation has found. Dividend payments increased by 75 per cent in Portugal and 66 per cent in Denmark between April and June this year, while nominal compensation in those countries rose by 6 per cent and 5 per cent. Across Europe, dividends increase by 10 per cent – double the rate at which wages are rising – and reached a record 184.5bn US dollars.
  • 04.09.2023 Press release

    Pay failing to keep up with school costs

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    Struggling families are facing another inflation setback as children return to the classroom, with the cost of the most basic school supplies rising twice as fast as wages across Europe. The price of essential items like pens, pencils, paper, folders, erasers, sharpeners or scissors increased by 13 per cent on average between January and May this year.
  • 01.03.2023 Page

    Serbian unions win historic deal

    The first collective agreement between unions and management of the Chinese-owned Zijin Copper mine in Serbia has secured a wage increase and better working conditions.
  • 01.03.2023 Page

    Success for negotiations in Czechia

    Trade union OS KOVO has won an 8% wage increase at Korean-owned Nexen Tire, Bitozevs in Žatec, Czechia. Following industrial action and negotiations between union leaders and company representatives, a significant number of trade union demands were met. 
  • 30.11.2022 Page

    Unions on the march against the cost-of-living crisis

    Across Europe, trade unions are fighting together to help their members meet soaring energy bills and rising living costs. Workers are paying the price for austerity, the war in Ukraine and the legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • 30.11.2022 Page

    Successful negotiations in Spain and the Netherlands

    A collective agreement covering painters in the Netherlands, guaranteeing automatic wage indexation, means that 16,000 workers in the sector will get a 10.3% pay rise. The new agreement (SAVG) stipulates that wage increases for 2023, 2024 and 2025 at least equal the consumer price index.
  • 30.11.2022 Page

    Nurses’ pay deal recognises Covid-19 service

    The Finnish trade unions Tehy and SuPer have reached an agreement with municipal employers covering pay developments over five years, Covid-19 compensation payments and other improvements to working conditions. The average salary in the health and social services sector will increase by at least 17.3% over five years, with an increase of 15.3% in the first three years. Workers who were involved in treating Covid-19 patients will get a separate one-off payment of €600. It will bring nurses’ average monthly pay to over €3,000.
  • 22.11.2022 Press release

    EU sends right message on wage rises

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    Commenting on the European Commission’s Autumn Economic Semester, ETUC Confederal Secretary Liina Carr said: “The Commission is absolutely right to say wages need to be raised and collective bargaining strengthened in order to protect purchasing power during the cost of living crisis. The evidence is that there is no ‘secondary effect’ on inflation from wages.
  • 01.03.2022 Page

    Germany strengthens minimum wage

    Germany’s new government is to raise the country's minimum wage to €12 per hour in October, following a strong campaign for a higher wage floor by the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). The increase of nearly 15% will benefit nearly 6.2 million low-paid workers – two thirds of them women – making up 10% of the country’s workforce and giving Germany the second-highest minimum wage in Europe after Luxembourg.
  • 01.03.2022 Page

    Dutch unions negotiate higher salary growth in 2022

    In Holland, the FNV union has won higher wage rises than last year in the 32 collective agreements it has negotiated since December. “Wherever we are strong and where our members are prepared to campaign for a good collective labour agreement, we see better results,” said FNV vice-chair Zakaria Boufangacha. “In addition to the metal industry and professional freight transport, this also applies to academic hospitals, municipalities and cleaning services.”
  • 01.03.2022 Page

    Pay rise to combat inflation in Turkey

    Trade unions representing workers in the Turkish metal sector, Türk Metal, Birleşik Metal-İş and Özçelik-İş, have secured a two-year, sector-wide collective agreement with the employers’ organisation MESS.
  • 01.06.2021 Page

    Covid bonus for Czech emergency workers

    The OSZSP health union has won extra payments for emergency medical staff whose work has been especially arduous during the pandemic. In negotiations with the government, the union based its demands on knowledge of the situation and specific suggestions from employees.  
  • 01.06.2021 Page

    Pay boost for carers in Spanish region

    The role of care workers throughout the Covid-19 pandemic has been recognised in the Spanish province of Malaga, with an 18% pay increase. The rise will apply to home help staff who support people in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants, bringing the hourly wage to €14.60 – the first change since 2007. 
  • 10.05.2019 Page

    Pay deal recognises firefighters’ commitment

    Part-time firefighters in Sweden have won big gains in pay and allowances. The Kommunal municipal workers' union has secured a collective agreement that recognises the importance of this group of workers and the massive challenges they have faced recently as a result of widespread forest fires.
  • 10.05.2019 Page

    Pay rise in Lithuania, but minimum wage still too low

    Trade union solidarity and skilled negotiating by the Lithuanian trade unions have helped raise the monthly minimum wage to €430, an increase on the €420 initially proposed by the Lithuanian government.
  • 10.05.2019 Page

    Municipal workers win major pay boost

    Workers in the municipality of Dobrich in Bulgaria celebrated May Day 2019 in style, with a pay rise negotiated by local trade unions. The framework agreement between the municipality of Dobrich and CITUB Dobrich means an increase in the incomes of workers in specialist areas designated by the state and the local authority. 
  • 09.08.2018 Page

    Europe needs a pay rise

    The ETUC has run a campaign ‘Europe needs a pay rise’ from February 2017 to June 2018 (Video). Pay rises for all working people across Europe, and closing unfair pay gaps (whether the gender pay gap, the East-West gap gap or other pay injustices) remain a priority for the ETUC. We are also doing all we can to promote and restore collective bargaining: the best way to achieve fair pay rises.
  • 24.04.2018 Speech

    EMIN bus journey launch ceremony

    Katja Lehto-Komulainen
    Speech by Katja Lehto-Komulainen, ETUC Deputy General Secretary   Dear all, Let me address three points on behalf of the European Trade Union Confederation. The ETUC is proud to be part of the EMIN network – and bus tour - promoting adequate minimum income schemes throughout Europe. - The right to an adequate minimum income is a key demand today: we need to ensure an acceptable and dignified standard of living for all.
  • 19.04.2018 Press release

    Pay rises would have been 4 times higher if they matched productivity

    Pay rise
    New figures calculated by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) show that wage increases in the European Union over the last 16 years would have been FOUR TIMES higher if they had fully reflected productivity increases. It is standard economic theory that wage increases should follow productivity increases. But in Europe productivity has increased far more than wages. From 2000 to 2016 productivity increased three times more than wages in Germany and Croatia, and two times more than wages in Poland and Belgium.
  • 06.02.2018 Press release

    Baden-Württemberg metal workers' pay rise and work time flexibility sets German precedent & EU example

    A ground-breaking agreement between German trade union IG Metall and employers in the region of Baden-Württemburg sets a precedent likely to be followed across Germany, and gives a positive example for the whole of Europe. The agreement includes a 4.3 % pay rise from April 2018, plus much greater flexibility including reduced working time to 28 hours for those who want or need it, and a choice for workers (with children still in education or caring for dependent parents) of an additional pay rise in 2019 or extra paid days off.

Contacts

Ms Tea JARC

Confederal Secretary

Mrs Emmanuella YETNA

Administrative Assistant to Tea Jarc