Around €8 an hour. Minimum wage in retail trade? No one was expecting this, even though the social partners have been talking about it since 2008. Josef Sanktjohanser, leader of HDE, confirmed on Wednesday, December 22nd that the guidelines and details of an agreement with this purpose would be negotiated with Verdi as early as January 2011. The aim is to manage to introduce minimum wage by April 2011, when the renegotiations for of the sector’s collective agreement start. To do so, the social partners want to use the “generally binding declaration” (Allgemeinverbindlicherklärung – AVE), not the “Posted Workers Act” (Entsendegesetz), which requires the government’s consent. The generally binding procedure implies that the social partners negotiating the agreement should represent at least 50% of employees concerned by the agreement. If such is the case, the agreement is then declared valid for all companies in the sector, whether or not they signed it. While Mr. Sanktjohanser rejected the latest offer made by Lidl, the discounter, pleading for universal minimum wage at €10 an hour, he thinks that hourly minimum wage between €7 and €8.80 is possible. These figures amount to the regional pay averages currently in force in retail trade.
the “generally binding declaration” (Allgemeinverbindlicherklärung – AVE), not the “Posted Workers Act” (Entsendegesetz), which requires the government’s consent. The generally binding procedure implies that the social partners negotiating the agreement should represent at least 50% of employees concerned by the agreement. If such is the case, the agreement is then declared valid for all companies in the sector, whether or not they signed it. While Mr. Sanktjohanser rejected the latest offer
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