European Labor Unions and Wages

At the national level, wages have historically been central to labor union identity. However, at the European Union level, European unions relinquished the topic of pay for many years, accepting the convergence toward wage restraint that emerged in the 1980s. This paper analyzes the ways in which they are now seeking to (re)construct the Europeanization of wages via initiatives aiming to coordinate national collective bargaining in their sectors and more recently by formulating a new demand for a European minimum wage. Will these strategies enable European unions to acquire sufficient legitimacy to intervene in the field of wages at the supranational level?