27 Amendments of Frances FITZGERALD related to 2020/0310(COD)
Amendment 43 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5 a (new)
Recital 5 a (new)
(5 a) Equality between men and women is a fundamental principle of the Union. According to Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union the promotion of equality between women and men is one of the Union’s aims and according to Article 8 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union equality between women and men should be promoted in all activities of the European Union.
Amendment 44 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5 b (new)
Recital 5 b (new)
(5 b) Under Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union any discrimination on any ground is prohibited, while Article 23 requires equality between women and men to be ensured in all areas, including employment, work and pay.
Amendment 45 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5 c (new)
Recital 5 c (new)
(5 c) whereas gender equality is a core principle of the European Union and should be reflected in all EU policies and legislation
Amendment 48 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) Better working and living conditions, including through adequate minimum wages, benefit both workers and businesses in the Union and are a prerequisite for achieving inclusive and sustainable growth. Addressing large differences in the coverage and adequacy of minimum wage protection contributes to improving the fairness of the EU labour market and promote economic, social progress and upward convergence, as well as promoting gender equality. Competition in the Single Market should be based on high social standards, innovation and productivity improvements ensuring a level playing field.
Amendment 49 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) When set at adequate levels, minimum wages protect the income of disadvantaged workers, help ensure a decent living, and limit the fall in income during bad times of crisis and through post crisis periods, as recognised in Convention 131 of the International Labour Organisation on the establishment of a system of minimum wage fixing. Minimum wages contribute to sustaining domestic demand, strengthen incentives to work, reduce wage inequalities and in- work poverty. Taking into account the over-representation of women in low- paying jobs, minimum wages can also make a significant contribution towards ensuring adequate pay for all and narrowing gender pay gaps.
Amendment 54 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) Women, single parents, young and low-skilled workers and persons with disabilities have a higher probability of being minimum wage or low wage earners than other groups. During economic downturns, such as the Covid-19 crisis, the role of minimum wages in protecting low- wage workers becomes increasingly important and is essential to support a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery. Addressing minimum wage contributes to gender equality, creating equal opportunities, helping to ensure equal treatment at work, closing the gender pay and pension gap as well as elevating women out of poverty. and/or social exclusion1a. _________________ 1a22.4% of the EU population are at risk of poverty or social exclusion – this includes 24.9% of all children in Europe, 23.3% of women, 18.2% of those over 65
Amendment 58 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 8 a (new)
Recital 8 a (new)
(8 a) Eurofound “Minimum wages in 2020:Annual review” , shows that women make up 59% of minimum wage earners, the majority of minimum wage earners in Europe. Therefore any modification related to minimum wage will affect them disproportionally. Women are also one of the main sub-minimum wage earners, as well as single parents, young workers, workers with lower education, or rural workers with dependent children.
Amendment 60 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 8 b (new)
Recital 8 b (new)
(8 b) During economic downturns, such as the COVID-19 crisis, minimum wages allow for people to have a decent living wherever they work and protection of low- wage workers is particularly important for supporting a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery and reducing the gender pay and pension gap, as well as elevating women out of poverty and/ or social exclusion as the majority of minimum wage earners are women. The COVID-19 crisis presents an opportunity to increase efforts to secure sustainable and fair working conditions and decent wages, and to tackle gender stereotypes and reassess the adequacy of wages in some low-paid, mostly female-dominated, sectors and occupations.
Amendment 61 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 8 c (new)
Recital 8 c (new)
Amendment 62 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 8 d (new)
Recital 8 d (new)
(8 d) This directive should complement The EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020- 2025 and contribute to the achievement of gender equality by promoting the participation of women in the labour market, on an equal basis, and helping to close gender gaps in earnings, pay and pension. It should take into account demographic changes including the effects of an ageing population. Moreover, it should also contribute to tackling the stereotypes ascribed to gender roles.
Amendment 63 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) The Covid-19 pandemic and crisis is having a significant and gendered impact on the the labour market, particularly the healthcare sector, care and other essential sectors, services sector and small firms, which both have a high share of minimum wage earners. Taking into account the over-representation of women in these sectors, women saw an unprecedented rise in workload, health risks and challenges to work-life balance due to the increase in unpaid care and household work during the pandemic. In addition, minimum wages are also important in view of the structural trends that are reshaping labour markets and which are increasingly characterised by high shares of non-standard occupations and precarious work. These trends have led to an increased job polarisation resulting in an increasing share of low-paid and low- skilled occupations in most Member States, as well as to higher wage inequality in some of them.
Amendment 67 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 9 a (new)
Recital 9 a (new)
(9 a) Gender segregation in the labour market, due to the uneven concentration of women and men in different sectors, is a persistent problem in the EU. 3 in 10 women work in education, health and social work (8% of men), which are traditionally low-paid sectors.
Amendment 85 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) This Directive establishes minimum requirements at Union level to ensure both that minimum wages are set at adequate level and that workers have equal access to minimum wage protection, in the form of a statutory minimum wage or in the form of wages set under collective agreements as defined for the purpose of this Directive.
Amendment 99 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 17
Recital 17
(17) This Directive should equally apply to workers who have an employment contract or employment relationship as defined by the law, collective agreements or practice in force in each Member State, with consideration to the criteria established by the Court of Justice of the European Union for determining the status of a worker. Provided that they fulfil those criteria, domestic workers, on-demand workers, intermittent workers, voucher based- workers, bogus self-employed, platform workers, trainees and apprentices could fall within the scope of this Directive. Genuinely self-employed persons do not fall within the scope of this Directive since they do not fulfil those criteria. The abuse of the status of self- employed persons, as defined in national law, either at national level or in cross- border situations, is a form of falsely declared work that is frequently associated with undeclared work. Bogus self- employment occurs when a person is declared to be self-employed while fulfilling the conditions characteristic of an employment relationship, in order to avoid certain legal or fiscal obligations. Such persons should fall within the scope of this Directive. The determination of the existence of an employment relationship should be guided by the facts relating to the actual performance of the work and not by the parties' description of the relationship.
Amendment 120 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 23
Recital 23
(23) An effective enforcement system, including controls and field inspections, is necessary to ensure the functioning of national statutory minimum wage frameworks. To strengthen the effectiveness of enforcement authorities, a close cooperation with the social partners is also needed, including to address critical challenges such as those related to sub- contracting, bogus self-employment or non-recorded overtime. Moreover, all workers should have equal and easily access to appropriate information on applicable statutory minimum wages to ensure an adequate degree of transparency and predictability as regards their working conditions.
Amendment 128 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 25
Recital 25
(25) Reliable monitoring and data collectiongender and age disaggregated data collection within the labour force are key to ensure the effective protection of minimum wages. The Commission should report every year to the European Parliament and to the Council its assessment of developments in the adequacy and coverage of minimum wages on the basis of annual data and information to be provided by Member States. In addition, progress should be monitored in the framework of the process of economic and employment policy coordination at Union level. In that context, the Employment Committee should examine every year the situation in the Member States on the basis of the reports produced by the Commission and other multilateral surveillance tools such as benchmarking.
Amendment 140 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 30
Recital 30
(30) IAs women tend to work more in SMEs and studies show that the size of an enterprise can affect wage setting mechanisms, financial benefits and career development opportunities, including for women, due consideration must be given to the unique circumstances of Europe’s small and medium sized enterprises concerning their size and ability to implement new requirements and therefore taking into account their structure that makes them disproportionally affected by administrative and regulatory burdens. When implementing this Directive Member States should avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints in a way which would hold back the creation and development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Member States are therefore invited to assess the impact of their transposition act on small and medium-sized enterprises in order to ensure that they are not disproportionately affected, giving specific attention to micro-enterprises and to the administrative burden, and to publish the results of such assessments. If found that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises are disproportionately affected, Member States should consider introducing measures to support these enterprises to adjust their remuneration structures to the new requirements. Member States should consider reducing the administrative burden for SMEs and micro-enterprises, without significantly diminishing the rights of workers within SMEs and micro- enterprises established by this Directive, and essentially maintaining equality of treatment of workers within such enterprises and workers of other enterprises
Amendment 173 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1
Article 2 – paragraph 1
This Directive applies to all workers equally in the Union who have an employment contract or employment relationship as defined by law, collective agreements or practice in force in each Member State, with consideration to the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Amendment 186 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new)
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new)
Amendment 200 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1
Article 5 – paragraph 1
Amendment 217 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Updates to statutory minimum wages must be without prejudice to any other income support mechanisms, such as State Aid for disadvantaged workers and for workers with disabilities as defined in Regulation No 651/2014 or disability entitlements
Amendment 227 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 1
Article 6 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure equal opportunities and equal treatment of workers in the application of statutory minimum wage protection. Member States may allow different rates of statutory minimum wage for specific groups of workers. Member States shall keep these variations to a minimum, and ensure that any variation is non- discriminatory, proportionate, limited in time if relevant, and objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim.
Amendment 235 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Member States shall not allow different rates of statutory minimum wages or deductions by law reducing remuneration paid to workers to a level below that of the statutory minimum wage solely on the basis of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability or sexual orientation. Sheltered employment, as defined in Regulation No 651/2014, should be subject to statutory minimum wages or sectoral collective agreements, where available.
Amendment 242 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – title
Article 8 – title
8 Equal and effective access of workers to statutory minimum wages
Amendment 244 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point 3
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point 3
(3) ensure that information on statutory minimum wages is made publicly available in a clear, comprehensive and easily accessible way, including accessibility for workers with disabilities.
Amendment 249 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 1
Article 10 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall task their competent authorities with developing effective data collection tools, that can ensure that data is adequately disaggregated (gender, age group, type of employment contract (part time/ full time), etc), to monitor the coverage and adequacy of minimum wages.
Amendment 270 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 3
Article 10 – paragraph 3
3. Member States shall ensure that information regarding minimum wage protection, including collective agreements and wage provisions therein, is transparent and publicly and easily accessible.