Impasse over setting national minimum wage. Employers disagree with government

The proposal was discussed in the general session of the Social Dialogue Council. Minimum wage for work and proposed minimum hourly wage in 2025. The government has proposed this as of January 1, 2025. The minimum wage was PLN 4626 in total.The minimum hourly rate for some civil law contracts is up to 30.20 Polish zloty.

The Social Dialogue Council has until July 15 to formulate a common position on increasing the minimum wage. Otherwise, The government will decide.

I just came to an agreement. The union sidewhich proposed increasing the minimum wage to at least PLN 4,650. According to Solidarity representatives, the government’s proposal is “unsatisfactory”. In contrast, the All-Polish Trade Union Convention stressed that the minimum wage ensures a decent life, and that the unions’ proposal “only slightly differs from the government’s proposal”.

We strongly urge you to look into this matter. The minimum wage was not only at the legal minimum level. – said Piotr Ostrowski, President of OPZZ.

Employers supported the government’s proposal, but there were also voices from… Freeze the minimum wage for next year. Representatives of the Liwatan Union confirmed this. We are at risk of mass liquidation of small businesses.Employers in the Republic of Poland pointed out that Not every company works in Warsaw conditions.Moreover, employers pointed out that “raising the minimum wage poses a major threat to the existence of companies in poor areas of the country.”

According to the regulations, if RDS does not agree on the minimum wage and hourly rate within the statutory deadline, then These amounts are determined by a decision of the Council of Ministers pursuant to the regulations issued on September 15 of this year. The amount of the minimum wage, as well as the amount of the minimum hourly wage determined by the Council of Ministers, However, it cannot be less than those previously submitted to the Social Dialogue Council for negotiation.

Although the government will make a final decision by September 15, it can be assumed based on the experience of previous years. The minimum wage would increase in direct proportion to the politicians’ first proposal. Let us remember that the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, decided that the best solution is to grant an increase to the minimum wage equal to Total 326 PLN per month From the current PLN 4300. In practice, this will increase profits by about . PLN 218 “On hand”.

Such assumptions are based on similar situations that occurred in recent years, when the government’s proposals were also not accepted by employer representatives, who emphasized that The pace of increases is very fast. We must remember that in space Between 2019 and 2023, the minimum wage in Poland will almost double. Five years ago the total amount was 2250 PLN.

Furthermore, the government decision will also be accompanied by a draft regulation on the minimum wage. This document will include, among other things: The impact of increased benefits on the labor market and on individual sectors. This is interesting because it happens every year. The number of people receiving the national minimum wage is constantly increasing. After this year’s changes, about 3.6 million employees receive the minimum wage. In 2023 it was 3 million, in 2022 2.7 million, and in 2021 1.6 million people.

It is also worth noting that the amount of the minimum wage is important not only for employers who employ their employees in such conditions. The cost of the increase is also borne, among other things, by sole proprietorships, because along with the minimum salary, ZUS and PIT contributions increase.

Minister Agnieszka Dzimjanovic-Bak informed during the RDS meeting that in her ministry, in parallel The implementation of the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages is currently underway in the EU.

– The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy has submitted a request to enter the Government’s legislative agenda and we are ready for further work, consultations and arrangements on the relevant project. We expect this to happen in the near future, taking into account the November date on the need to implement the aforementioned directive – the head of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy announced.

She added that a related issue will be regulated in this project. With reference value for minimum wage increasei.e. the trend indicator of the ratio of minimum wage to average wage.

Under the provisions of the Directive, Member States are obliged to assess the adequacy of the minimum wage. To do this, they must define one or more “indicative reference values”. For example, it may be e.g. 60 percent average wage 50 percent average income (Internationally or nationally).