After getting, at the end of January, the government to adopt her first highly-controversial bill on the pension reform, Andrea Nahles, SPD Minister for Employment and Social Affairs, is now taking on her second big case – equally controversial: the introduction of statutory minimum wage amounting to €8.50 gross/hour on January 1, 2015. To that end, on February 24, the Minister launched an in-depth consultation procedure with the social partners who will have to evaluate, before March 7, the impact and possible problems it could have in their different sectors. The Minister, who promised she would take the results into consideration in her bill, also presented an ambitious schedule. Thus, she wants to send her text to the government by mid-April for a first-instance debate in the Bundesrat in May and then the Bundestag in June.
Assessing sector-specific problems. Reminding that this consultation was planned in the Grand Coalition program adopted in November 2013, Nahles clarified the objectives in a letter sent to the union and employers’ organizations (DGB and BDA). “Where the social partners claim there are specific problems, we want to discuss with you and give you the possibility of presenting your stance and interests.” She added, “All arguments, pieces of information and proposals will be carefully analyzed i
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