EFCI’S RESPONSE TO THE SECOND STAGE CONSULTATION ON MINIMUM WAGES

After the first phase of the consultation that was closed on 20 February 2020, the Commission concluded that there was a need for EU action on this topic. Published on 3 June 2020, the second phase consultation presented four main questions requesting Social Partners to share their views on the specific objectives, avenues and legal instruments presented in the consultation document. In its reply, the EFCI expressed its full commitment with the preservation of fair minimum wages in the industrial cleaning sector, presenting the sector as an example of success of social bargaining, achieving good minimum wages above the median of many other services sectors in countries like Germany or the Netherlands.  

The EFCI also expressed its opposition to the introduction of an EU Directive on the grounds it could lack the required accuracy of national and sectoral expertise, bypassing the role of Social Partners and potentially disrupting well-established wage setting and collective bargaining systems and make the European labour market more rigid in a moment where full flexibility is a high priority need. Further, from a sectorial perspective, such a legislative action could encounter unbalanced results if no measures are being taken to shift the focus to quality in the procurement in labour-intensive sectors like cleaning.

In this regard, the EFCI presented some recommendations to be implemented through non-binding European Council recommendations that, in our view, could help Member States achieving the Commission’s objectives:

1. 1. a recommendation to Member States to provide national incentives to promote and foster well-functioning collective bargaining in each sector;
   2. the creation of a comprehensive guide providing Member States with references to specific indicators against which minimum wage adequacy could be assessed;
   3. a set of recommendations to guide Social Partners in keeping minimum wage exemptions to the minimum necessary and considering each sector´s and country specificities, circumstances, and needs;
   4. a call to Member States to ensure effective implementation and compliance with national minimum wage frameworks, and attribute to the Social Partners a key role in that respect.
   5. A set of guiding tools to improve Member States’ existing data collection tools and monitoring frameworks;
   6. a recommendation to Member States to facilitate and promote the mapping of the social clause 2014/24/EU of the Public Procurement Directive and any other EU initiatives focused on the mapping and promotion of quality criteria in public procurement.