© European Union, https://eur-lex.europa.eu, 1998-2025The need for the protection of the least protected workers in the private sector as well as the strengthening of the collective agreements of the workers for the correct implementation of the minimum wage, based on the relevant European Directive, was raised by MEP Kostas Mavridis (DIKO – S&D) in the discussion with topic "Promotion of social dialogue and collective bargaining and the right to strike in the EU", before the new Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs rights, at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
In his intervention, Mr. Mavridis initially pointed out that "social dialogue, including collective labor negotiations, is a key and useful tool for the proper functioning of the market economy. After all, one of the objectives of the EU Treaties, as the Commissioner rightly pointed out, is the explicit protection of the autonomy of the tripartite social dialogue/system in the member states, as is the case in Cyprus."
Continuing, the Cypriot MEP raised before the Commissioner two issues related to the effective implementation of the relevant Directive for a decent/adequate minimum wage in the EU. The first concerns the provision of the Directive according to which the member states must increase the collective agreements of the employees to the prescribed 80% in order to protect especially the less protected workers in the private sector. The second issue highlighted in his intervention by Mr. Mavridis concerns the national minimum wage in Cyprus, which only determines the amount of the monthly wage without being linked to monthly working hours. To this end, he explained that: "The minimum wage must also be linked to a minimum hourly wage to avoid situations like in Cyprus, where two workers may receive the same minimum monthly wage (e.g. €1000), but with different hours worked per month (or week), resulting in up to a 25% difference in pay per hour.”
Finally, because it was the last plenary session of the European Parliament for the year, Mr. Mavridis wished everyone a "Merry Christmas" in Greek, which is also the language of the Gospel, as he noted.
Press Office of MEP K. Mavridis
photo © European Union, https://eur-lex.europa.eu, 1998-2025, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MEP_Costas_Mavrides.jpg
