Wage Policy

The ETUC carries out internal coordination of collective bargaining and wage policies, and supports the coordination of collective bargaining and wage negotiations in the sectoral federations.

The key criterion for wage claims is to offset inflation and ensure that workers’ incomes reflect productivity gains. Other principles include preserving collective bargaining rights, including the right to strike and the autonomy of social partners, and opposing forced decentralisation of collective bargaining.

Union wage policy also aims to close the gender pay gap, tackle gender inequalities and remove all forms of discrimination, through collective bargaining and industrial relations, and to combat sub-minimum wages for specific groups of the working population, for example young people.

04.11.2024 Press release

Rent costs a third of workers’ wages

Low paid workers spend at least a third of their wages on rent in most member states, new trade union research shows on the eve of the confirmation hearing of the EU’s first commissioner for housing. The average cost of rent for a property of at most two bedrooms eats up 35% or more of the pay packets of workers earning the statutory minimum wage in 14 member states. Rent accounts for half of monthly earnings for low paid workers in three countries (Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg) and, in a further eight member states it is equivalent to 40% or more.
21.03.2024 Press release

Report: Pay still not keeping up with prices

The living standards of European workers have still not recovered from the cost-of-living crisis, a major new trade union report on the state of the European economy has found.The real compensation of workers in the EU, which represents pay after inflation is taken into account, fell by 0.7% in 2023, according to Benchmarking Working Europe 2024, the European Trade Union Institute’s flagship annual report. 
19.07.2023 Press release

Workers hit by record rise in holiday costs

There will be no break from the cost-of-living crisis this summer, with families facing the highest increase in the cost of holidays and staycation activities on record. The price of package holidays, which are meant to provide the best value breaks, at home or abroad has increased by 12.4% across the EU between January and May and that follows an 11.5% increase last year. That is the highest increase in the cost of package holidays since records began in 1996 – before last year, the previous highest annual rise was 7.2% in 2015.
23.05.2023 Press release

Wages 9% lower in sectors with labour shortages

Employers need to offer better-paid jobs to end Europe’s damaging labour shortage, according to new research published by the European Confederation of Trade Unions (ETUC) today (Tuesday). An analysis of job vacancy rates and wages in 22 EU countries reveals that industries with the worst labour shortages pay 9% less on average than sectors where it’s easier to recruit.   It comes after the EU job vacancy rate reached a record high last year, causing production problems for a quarter of EU companies.  
21.04.2023 Press release

Eurostat: Basic living costs up 4x faster than wages

The most basic living costs, like housing and utilities, increased up to four times faster than wages across Europe last year, new Eurostat data shows.  
06.04.2023 Press release

Study: Low pay causing labour shortages

Europe’s record labour shortages are being driven by low wages and working conditions, new research shows. The job vacancy rate in Europe is currently at a record high and more than a quarter of EU businesses reported production problems as a result of labour shortages last year. EU leaders and business representatives have blamed the shortage solely on a skills gap among European workers. Equipping more workers with the skills needed to work in the industries of the future is a crucial part of a socially just transition to a green economy.
01.03.2023 Page

Value sharing for a fairer deal in France

Social partners in France have concluded an agreement on value sharing, to promote profit-sharing and incentive schemes as well as tax-free bonuses in all companies. Following a Convention on Value Sharing in February 2023, the French government has promised to formalise the terms of the accord in law.
22.11.2022 Press release

EU sends right message on wage rises

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.
15.11.2022 Press release

Unequal pay means women hit hardest by energy prices

Equal pay is needed now more than ever as new research shows women are hardest hit by energy price rises, the ETUC says on Equal Pay Day 2022.
18.10.2022 Press release

Profits rise while wages fall

Real wages are falling while real profits continue to grow in half of EU member states, new ETUC research on the cost-of-living crisis shows.   Real wages, which indicates pay after inflation is taken into account, have fallen in every EU member state this year by as much as 9%.  At the same time, corporate profits are rising in real terms in 13 member states, with increases of up to 6.5% compared to last year.
29.09.2022 Document

Increase Wages, Tax Profits - Calendar of trade union actions across Europe
14.09.2022 Document

End the Cost of Living Crisis: Increase Wages, Tax Profits!

Have a look at the calendar of trade union actions across Europe on the cost-of-living crisis  Photos of the trade union action and of the meeting in the European Parliament in Strasbourg - Video of the meeting with MEPS
01.09.2022 Page

Fighting together for dignity and decent living standards

Around Europe, trade unions are calling for action to combat the astronomical rates of inflation that are putting food and energy bills beyond the reach of many workers.
01.09.2022 Page

Extra cost-of-living support for Austrian workers

Following pressure from the trade union confederation ÖGB and the AK (Chamber of Labour), Austria’s federal government has put forward an anti-inflation package with measures to help the population in the short and longer-terms, implementing a significant number of the social partners’ demands.
01.09.2022 Page

Belgian workers demand immediate action

Trade unions in Belgium are mobilising on 21 September, demanding government action to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, lower energy bills and recognise that liberalisation of the energy market has been a failure for consumers.
14.07.2022 Press release

EU confirms prices not wages driving inflation

The European Commission has supported the view of trade unions that it is price rises,  particularly for energy, that are the primary driver of inflation rather than wages. In its summer economic forecast, the Commission says both that “surging prices of energy remain the main inflation driver” and “a persistent feedback loop between wages and inflation is unlikely to develop” as real terms wage growth remained negative.
03.12.2021 Press release

Pay inequality up in majority of EU countries

The gap in earnings between the richest and poorest Europeans grew in a majority of EU countries over the last decade, according to a new report which underlines the need for EU action to end poverty pay. The ‘unequal Europe’ report released today by the ETUC and its ETUI research institute shows wage inequality increased in 14 member states between 2010 and 2019, most notably in Hungary, Spain and Belgium.
25.11.2021 Press release

Minimum wages vote: Critical milestone but not end of the road

The European Parliament today voted strongly in favour of opening negotiations with the European Council on the draft directive on minimum wages on the basis of the
24.11.2021 Press release

MEPs must pay back Covid heroes in minimum wage vote

It’s time to pay back the sacrifices made by essential workers during the pandemic, trade unions have told members of the European Parliament ahead of the vote tomorrow on the minimum wage directive. 
05.10.2021 Event

Reminder: 25th NETLEX Conference

Brussels, 1 December 2021 To the ETUC NETLEX members To the members of the Labour and Internal Market Legislation Committee To the members of the Fundamental Rights and Litigation Advisory Group For information to the Member Organisations Dear Colleagues We are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at the 25th Netlex Conference whether in Paris or online. For those participants attending virtually, please find the joining details for the Conference below:
14.06.2021 Document

“EU governments, respect the promises made to workers!”

European Trade Union Confederation and Social Platform statement on the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in the EU During the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) meeting on 14 June, EU Ministers will discuss the European Commission’s Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in the EU. We hereby urge EU Ministers to demonstrate their full political support for the proposed Directive.
07.05.2021 Press release

Mazzucato and Piketty support stronger EU wage law

Two of Europe’s leading economists are supporting calls for a strong EU directive on adequate minimum wages as a crucial part of the recovery from the Covid crisis. In a significant intervention which coincides with the EU social summit in Porto, an open letter signed by professors Mariana Mazzucato and Thomas Piketty says the directive represents a “paradigm shift” in European Commission policy compared to its response to the financial crisis.
25.03.2021 Document

OPINION OF THE COUNCIL LEGAL SERVICE ON THE DIRECTIVE ON ADEQUATE MINIMUM WAGES IN THE EU – BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!

Statement of the ETUC Collective Bargaining and Wage Coordination Committee Last week, the EU Council's legal service finally delivered its opinion on the Directive on adequate minimum wages in the EU. The opinion confirms what trade unions have been saying all along: a Directive is possible and the proposed Directive is drafted on the correct legal base, i.e the protection of working conditions (Article 153(1)(b) TFEU in conjunction with Article 153(2) TFEU).
28.01.2020 Press release

Statutory minimum wages leave workers at risk of poverty in at least 17 EU member states

People earning the statutory minimum wage are at risk of poverty in most EU member states, the latest official data shows. Twenty-two EU member states have a statutory national minimum wage and the majority fail to meet even the minimal at risk-of-poverty wage threshold of 60% of the median wage. In 10 member states, the statutory minimum is 50% or less of the national median wage.
10.09.2018 Press release

#SOTEU 2018: Strong proposals are needed to restore social justice for working people, ETUC tells Juncker

Commission President Juncker's State of the Union speech is due to take place on Wednesday 12 September 2018, and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) urges him to deliver strong proposals on the future of Europe, to restore social justice, ahead of the EU elections. ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini calls for a wide European alliance between parties, politicians, social partners and civil society organisations, to support democratic values and tackle populism, nationalism and racism.