Seven months after the introduction of the mandatory minimum wage information, based on an official parliamentary request, showed that lobbyists from a number of different sectors have urged the government to add exceptions to the rule that no one in the country should earn less than 8.50 euro an hour. Particularly persistent were representatives of the farmers' and newspaper publishers' associations, who met government representatives 15 times in the months leading up to the law being passed in parliament. Notwithstanding this, 3.7 million people have received a pay raise because of the minimum wage, and dependence on social benefits has declined. Fears that the law would lead to a sharp rise in unemployment figures have so far proved untrue.
English: http://www.dw.com/en/business-lobbying-against-german-minimum-wage-revealed …
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.