ILO Governing Body, 350th session - Report of the meeting of expert on wage policies, including living wages - EU Statement

PRINT

ILO Governing Body, 350th session - Report of the meeting of expert on wage policies, including living wages - EU Statement

18.03.2024 Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in Geneva

ILO Governing Body, 350th session

4 - 15 March 2024

Report of the meeting of expert on wage policies, including living wages

Geneva, 13^th March 2024

EU Statement

Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

We align ourselves with the Government Group statement.

The candidate countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro*, Serbia*, Albania*, Bosnia and Herzegovina* and Georgia, and the EFTA country Norway, member of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.

1. Firstly, we thank the participants of the meeting of experts on wage policies, including living wages,for their comprehensive report and conclusions presented to the Governing Body today. We thank the Chair and the Vice-Chairsfor their significant roles in this process.
2. Secondly, the EU and its Member States would like to thank the Office for the preparation of this meeting of experts and the invaluable support provided to the tripartite constituents.
3. The EU and its Member States fully support the conclusions of the meeting of experts, which form a solid base for further work on living wages by the ILO and its constituents. The conclusions give guidance on what a living wage is, methodologies for estimating it, and how to operationalize it. We welcome future actions from the ILO and its constituents to support wage-setting processes and living wages on the basis of these conclusions.
4. We want to emphasize that the conclusions reflect that there is no one size fits all mechanism for wage setting and for estimating living wages.Wage setting is a national competence and varies widely in EU Members States. Although there are different modalities for setting and adjusting wages, the conclusions emphasize the importance of tripartite social dialogue and strong, well-informed collective bargaining. Localand regional differences within and between countries influence the composition of the basket of goods and services, and should be taken into account when estimating living wages.
5. We appreciate that the conclusions make a clear distinction between what a living wage is, based on the needs of workers and their families as a recognized human right, and how it should be achieved, namely through a wage-setting process in which economic factors are also an element.
6. Furthermore, we support that the conclusions acknowledge the difficulties of wage setting in supply chains, whilst acknowledging the importance of social dialogue, including collective bargaining.
7. Lastly, we endorse that the conclusions encourage the ILO to engage with existing living wage initiatives to promote the alignment with the ILO living wage principles and at the same time learn from their experiences thus far.
8. The EU and its Member States strongly support the conclusions of the meeting of experts as the necessary next step in establishing living wages, ideally through national wage setting systems and with the involvement of social partners or solely by the social partners.
9. We welcome the recommendations and follow-up actions, and support their promotion among the ILO constituents and organisation, the multilateral system and through partnerships with other UN bodies and international organisations, including through the Global Coalition on Social Justice.
10. The EU and its Member States support the first point for decision as originally proposed by the Officers. We also support the second point for decision as amended by the workers. With regard to point C presented by the workers, the EU supports the proposal of an implementation report. With regard to the timing of the proposed report, we would like to ask the Office if this timeframe is feasible?

Thank you, Chair.