Germany: German employers choose minimum wage over “Polish plumbers”

Fear of the Polish plumber is back. In addition to the major concerns about the impact of the “Greek crisis” on the Euro, the national economic and employment, the German social partners and government are still mobilized about the issue of the struggle against wage dumping and the issue of the introduction of statutory universal or sectoral minimum wage. A few months ago, the initial stance of the right-wing government coalition and of German employers foretold that the idea of minimum wage was forgotten. But the wind has changed. Fear of the impact of the opening of the German labor market, on May 1, 2011, to citizens from recent EU Member States is resurfacing. “When existing restrictions to access to the employment market for eastern European workers are over, in 2011, we will need minimum pay, otherwise pressure on wages will be too great for our sector” Martin Kannegiesser, leader of Gesamtmetall, told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. He thinks that many Polish businesses are already getting ready to set into the German interim market with wages amounting to €3-4 an hour. In this case, he is in favor of the introduction of statutory minimum wage in the temporary sector, which provides growing number of workers to his sector’s companies. He thinks that metal, automotive and electrical engineering employ about 2-3% of their workforce as temporary workers.