Make me good…just not yet? The (potential) impact of the Adequate Minimum Wage Directive

Abstract

The Adequate Minimum Wage Directive has proven to be one of the most contentious pieces of EU labour legislation, with a variety of opinion on what impact the Directive may have, its significance, and its implications for labour relations regulation across the EU. This contribution focuses on the implications of the Directive for collective bargaining coverage in the EU, and takes a broadly optimistic view of what the impact of the Directive might be by using the example of Ireland as a case study. Ireland is one of the countries with a relatively low collective bargaining coverage rate, where measures will be required to promote collective bargaining. However, more broadly, the Irish journey in recent years seems to mirror that of the EU Institutions. From an emphasis on austerity measures and pressures to de-regulate following the financial crisis, allied with judicial decision-making which seemed to favour economic rights over social rights, to a “paradigm shift” of a (re)emphasis on social Europe, and on collective rights. The paper looks at the impact the Directive (pre-transposition) has already had in terms of social dialogue and collective bargaining, before turning to consider some of the transposition challenges. In the concluding section, the paper reflects on some lessons that might be of wider application across the Member States.