{"title":"Unions divided? Trade union attitudes towards the European Union’s Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages","authors":"Eriks Ozols, Stefan Ivanov Hristov, Thomas Paster","doi":"10.1177/0143831x241245007","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In October 2022, the European Union adopted a directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union (AMWD). This directive has sparked considerable controversy. While employers uniformly oppose the AMWD, unions are divided. In many EU countries, unions support the AMWD, while in Denmark and Sweden, they oppose it. This article aims to answer the question: Why do unions in some member states support the AMWD, while unions in other countries oppose it? Drawing on 27 semi-structured interviews with union representatives from 13 EU countries, the article presents a typology of union positions towards AMWD consisting of three types: domestically-oriented opposition, domestically-oriented support, and externally-oriented support. The article proposes an explanation for these three different types that is based on two variables: bargaining coverage, and the role of state institutions in protecting it.","PeriodicalId":47456,"journal":{"name":"Economic and Industrial Democracy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Economic and Industrial Democracy","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831x241245007","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & LABOR","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In October 2022, the European Union adopted a directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union (AMWD). This directive has sparked considerable controversy. While employers uniformly oppose the AMWD, unions are divided. In many EU countries, unions support the AMWD, while in Denmark and Sweden, they oppose it. This article aims to answer the question: Why do unions in some member states support the AMWD, while unions in other countries oppose it? Drawing on 27 semi-structured interviews with union representatives from 13 EU countries, the article presents a typology of union positions towards AMWD consisting of three types: domestically-oriented opposition, domestically-oriented support, and externally-oriented support. The article proposes an explanation for these three different types that is based on two variables: bargaining coverage, and the role of state institutions in protecting it.
期刊介绍:
Economic and Industrial Democracy is an international peer reviewed journal that focuses on the study of initiatives designed to enhance the quality of working life through extending the democratic control of workers over the workplace and the economy. How those initiatives are affected by wider political, economic and technological factors are also of interest. Special emphasis is laid on international coverage of empirical material, including discussions of the social and economic conditions in various countries.