The minimum wage in Germany is a reality. An historic step, awaited after 10 very long years of discussions, which even caused the Minister of Labour, Andrea Nahles, Social Democrat, to rejoice: "A moment of great joy". In less than three months, the Bundestag, the German Parliament, gave the green light, with 535 votes in favor out of 601, to the bill presented by the government in the spring.
"The minimum wage will now apply throughout Germany, East and West, to all workers - continued the minister - and will finally introduce decent wages for millions of people who, despite having worked diligently, have been underpaid". According to government estimates, the low-wage sector, below the gross 8,50 euros per hour introduced by the new law, involves almost four million workers. With a high percentage in the East where between 25 and 30% of employees will be affected by the reform and low in the western lands where it affects only 10-15% of the workforce.
Although there have been many criticisms of the measure, the social democratic component of the grand coalition government finally went straight and Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU honored the pact, removing Germany from the list of seven out of 28 EU countries that have no minimum wage (Italy is part of it) .
