“In this campaign, addressing the wage gap and especially the need for upward wage convergence between eastern and western Europe is a matter of priority for industriAll Europe” added Luc Triangle
We have long called for a change of policy. It is now high time for our recipe. A recipe that will work, and which is based on enforced internal demand.
We need a “growth model based on wage-led demand”. This is why, wage increases should move to the top of the agenda, at European and at national level.
Workers are the ones who have paid the highest price for the crisis and they still continue to pay in some countries. A crisis which was not caused by
citizens and workers and for which workers had to foot the bill. Companies and shareholders have now recovered. It is now payback time for workers! It is time for workers to get their recovery!
The public debate has been dominated by a neo-liberal narrative which led people to think that it is unfair to look for a pay rise. We must change people’s attitudes and beliefs. We must instill confidence in workers so that they turn to their employers and their government to demand a wage increase!
However, the trade unions are not isolated anymore. Some academics, politicians and even the International Monetary Fund are now on our side
advocating for a policy shift supporting purchasing power and investment. It is now the turn of European policy makers and national governments to get on board and make concrete proposals.
“In this campaign, addressing the wage gap between regions of Europe and especially between eastern and western parts of Europe is a matter of priority for industriAll Europe” added Luc Triangle. It’s no longer acceptable that workers in the same company or sector, doing the same job and performing at similar levels of productivity, but based in different member states, receive different wages. We must get our act together to make progress on upward wage convergence. Setting up a minimum wage which guarantees a decent living to every European worker is a step in the right direction.
If we want to achieve equality and fair competition, and tackle social and wage dumping, we need to support the upward wage convergence as a matter of urgency!
We also need to focus on strengthening collective bargaining structures and setting them up where they have been destroyed or where they do not yet exist. Multi-employer collective bargaining institutions together with strong trade unions are essential to deliver decent wages and working conditions for workers.
There is a real alternative for the disastrous policies of the past years: more domestic demand, quality jobs, robust collective bargaining structures with high levels of coverage. These are our recipes for a Europe that creates prosperity, welfare, and progress for all. This is the Europe, we want!
That’s the reason why industriAll Europe will be deeply involved in this campaign.
More information on the campaign:
- The video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIizB9UTChk
- Twitter #OurPayRise
- www.payrise.eu
- https://www.facebook.com/OurPayRise/