Workers of all member states unite? : Europeanising the power resources approach via the Minimum Wage Directive

Abstract

The Directive on adequate minimum wages (AMWD) of October 2022 epitomises a shift in European wage governance from negative integration, focused on competitiveness and inflation-fighting, towards a positive mode of integration via the procedural regulation of wage adequacy and promotion of collective bargaining. The politics behind this contentious directive, we contend, reveals a re-empowerment of labour interests in the EU. The paper puts forward a ‘Europeanised’ variant on the power resources approach (PRA), which we argue has additional analytical leverage compared to existing explanations of EU social policy. Building on documents and 26 interviews, we use this framework to shed light on the influence of labour interests in the agenda-setting and decision-making behind this directive. Our empirics reveal the role of the Party of European Socialists as a reform protagonist, the European Trade Union Confederation as a key consenter, and their influence exercised by coordinating across institutions. We conclude by discussing the relevance of a Europeanised PRA beyond the AMWD. The implementation of the directive and the future of wage policy in the context of EU macroeconomic governance will be a testcase for labour power and its effective coordination in the multi-level European polity.