Lithuanian Business Group Proposes Collective Bargaining for Minimum Wage

The Lithuanian Business Confederation has put forward a proposal to alter the current system for determining the minimum monthly wage. The organization supports the idea of negotiating the minimum wage through collective agreements between employers and employee representatives.

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The Lithuanian Business Confederation agrees that the minimum monthly wage should be agreed upon in a collective agreement. However, it proposes changing the Labor Code for this.

However, to implement this, the confederation argues that amendments to the current Labor Code are necessary, as the existing legislation does not permit such arrangements. The proposed change would empower both employers and employee unions to directly negotiate and agree upon the minimum wage level.

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Then employers and employee representatives could agree on the amount of the minimum wage.

Furthermore, the Business Confederation suggests modeling Lithuania's system after Estonia's approach. In the Estonian model, a collectively bargained agreement on the minimum wage serves as the foundation upon which the government then formally approves it for the entire country. This collaborative method aims to create a more flexible and mutually agreed-upon minimum wage structure.

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The Business Confederation also proposes adopting the Estonian model. According to it, this agreement would become the basis for the Government to approve the minimum wage for everyone.