Many companies in germany undermine minimum wage
This is the result of an overview published by the federal ministry of finance. 248 investigations into the violations have been initiated in the construction cleaning industry. In the care sector, for which a minimum wage ordinance was only introduced in 2010, there were 50 cases.
There is no general statutory minimum wage in germany. However, specific minimum wages have been agreed in 13 industries – most recently hairdressers. They range from an initial 6.50 euros per hour in the eastern german hairdressing trade to 13.70 euros per hour in the western german construction trade. In total, nearly five million employees work in the industries. For years, the construction industry has been particularly susceptible to wage dumping and undeclared work.
The figures on the violations are based on a response from the ministry of finance to a question from the greens in the bundestag, which was made available to dpa and reported earlier by the "suddeutsche zeitung" (thursday). According to this, 26,775 employers in the main and ancillary construction trades were inspected last year. The fines imposed in the industry for minimum wage violations amount to almost twelve million euros.
FDP leader philipp rosler called on his party to pass a resolution on regional and industry-specific minimum wages at the national party conference in may. "It behooves us liberals to take a look at the realities of life. We see that wages of three euros have nothing to do with fairness of performance," he told "spiegel online.
"We are in favor of collective bargaining autonomy, but what about the people who work in industries and regions where there are no agreements between the bargaining parties??", rosler continues. This is an issue "where a party committed to the social market economy is called for". The FDP leadership wants to propose a wage floor at the national party conference on 4 may./5. May in nurnberg, a decision was reached on regional and industry-specific minimum wages. However, the FDP continues to reject nationwide minimum wages.
The minimum wage for hairdressers could have a noticeable effect on customers’ wallets, according to verdi boss frank bsirske. For a new haircut, they may be allowed to dig deeper into their pockets. "I don’t want to rule that out completely," bsirske told dpa. But a minimum wage for service providers would mean that millions of people would earn more. Individual price increases could thus also be better absorbed.
The "finanzkontrolle schwarzarbeit" (FKS) of the customs is responsible for the monitoring of minimum wages and the fight against illegal work and employment. According to an answer to another, earlier grunen inquiry, of the 6769 positions reported for 2013, "arithmetically, 495 positions were vacant on 1 january 2013," according to the ministry of finance. June 2012 unoccupied".
With the extension of minimum wage limits to other sectors, more checks by the "financial control of illegal employment" investigators will also be necessary. According to the annual customs report presented a month ago, a total of 543,000 people were inspected last year for illegal employment, moonlighting and violations of minimum wage requirements (2011: 524,000). Approximately 66,000 employers (68,000) were checked. Damages of more than 750 million euros (660 million euros) were incurred.) uncovered and 104,283 investigation proceedings (109,166) initiated.