On 26 June, an independent commission, made up of employee and employer representatives, tasked with re-evaluating the legal minimum wage in Germany every two years, put forward its recommendation. The body proposed a two-stage minimum wage increase, from 8.84 euros per hour at present to 9.19 euros (as demanded by employers) from 1 January 2019, and then up to 9.35 euros (as per union demands) from 1 January 2020. The German Trade Union Confederation described the decision, which was unanimously approved by members of the independent commission, as a “success”. Hubertus Heil, the employment minister, of the SPD party, is set now to make this minimum wage obligatory by means of a new decree.
Margin for interpretation. This is the second time the minimum wage commission been called into action since Germany first introduced a legal minimum wage in January 2015. The recommendation was long-awaited, arriving after negotiations between employee representatives, seeking an “above average” pay rise, and those of employers, who were strongly opposed to such a scenario. At first sight, the minimum wage calculation appears clearly regulated. The law on the minimum wage states that the comm
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