On Thursday, July 3, the German Bundestag decided that a minimum wage will be introduced in the whole of Germany, as reported by German website Fruchthandel.de. The law proposal was adopted by a large majority. As of January 1, 2015, the minimum wage will be 8.50 Euros per hour.
For agriculture companies, however, there will be a transition period until January 1, 2017. They won't have to pay the determined minimum wage right away, but are allowed to increase wages step by step until January 1, 2017.
Joachim Rukwied, chairman of the 'Deutsche Bauernverband' (DBV), offered sharp criticism: "The problem that agriculture companies, cultivating special crops in Germany, are at a disadvantage compared to other European cultivation regions, remains unsolved." According to Rukwied, production of, among others, fruit and vegetables, will, in the medium term, be moved to low-wage countries such as Poland, Romania and Greece because of this.
On the other hand, Christian Schmidt, German minister of Agriculture, sees the new law as a triumph for the protection of employees against low wages. On Thursday, he said in Berlin: "With this, the Federal Government fulfils a promise it made in its coalition agreement: minimum wage guarantees honest work income. That also particularly applies to over one million workers in the agricultural sector."
On the other hand, Christian Schmidt, German minister of Agriculture, sees the new law as a triumph for the protection of employees against low wages. On Thursday, he said in Berlin: "With this, the Federal Government fulfils a promise it made in its coalition agreement: minimum wage guarantees honest work income. That also particularly applies to over one million workers in the agricultural sector."