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Abstract

In the course of European integration, joint positions among trade unions from the different member states are not only becoming more and more necessary, but also increasingly difficult to establish. Against this background, trade unions in the EU have been discussing the implementation of a bottom limit for wages in the common market for more than a decade. While generally, trade unions from countries with weak collective bargaining can be expected to favor the idea of an institutionalized minimum wage, unions from countries with high coverage rates are ascribed a reluctance towards such bottom limits. As the debate around a European minimum wage (in this case exemplified by drawing on the involvement of unionists from Sweden, Hungary and Poland, as well as representatives from the European level) shows, such 'institutional nationalism' impedes or prevents the emergence of joint political positions in the course of European integration.