No, it’s not a surprise. Employers are up against the planned minimum wage increase. They even threaten legal action if the lower wage limit, as announced by the traffic lights, is raised to twelve euros in the coming year. At least superficially, employers argue with the disempowerment of the minimum wage commission, which was founded precisely for this purpose: to advise on steps to increase. And without the influence of politics.
Minimum wage: There is a threat of outbidding competition
But it was one of the central promises made by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the election campaign: the minimum wage should rise faster. The twelve euros as a political goal. So it comes now. Even the FDP has come to terms with it. Whether or not employers’ concern for the integrity of the Commission is a matter of fact, their argument cannot be dismissed out of hand. The minimum wage threatens to become the plaything of politics. Who says that the one-time exception will remain and that the Commission will determine all further increases? Wouldn’t it be obvious that the left would demand 15 euros or more in the next election campaign and that the SPD would follow suit, or even have to follow suit? The minimum wage commission could quickly be confronted with new requests. Such outbidding competition would be harmful – and a regulatory sin too.
Nevertheless, the suspicion remains that the employers’ move at the turn of the year is about something else: namely, warding off burdens. They too have to put up with the question of why around nine million employees would benefit from a minimum wage increase to twelve euros. If the social partners had acted more responsibly in the past, the discussion about the disempowerment of the minimum wage commission would have become obsolete. What remains is the damage – on all sides.
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