The Flemish socialist party Vooruit wants to raise the minimum wage to 2,500 euros before tax. With less than two months to go to the general election Vooruit leader Melissa Depraetere added the proposal to her party’s platform during a speech on the eve of the Labour Day public holiday.
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May Day: socialist party Vooruit campaigns for 2,500-euro minimum wage
Colin Clapson
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The party’s platform already stated that Vooruit wants to raise the minimum wage. Now the party has put a precise figure on its proposal: 15 euros gross per hour or 2,500 euros per month. Currently, that amount is just over 2,000 euros.
"Everybody who goes to work every day deserves a wage on which they can live decently," Melissa Depraetere said during her speech in Ghent. "A higher minimum wage will also increase the difference between working and not working. As a result, many more people will want to work."
Vooruit’s French-speaking sister party PS goes even further. It wants to raise the minimum wage to 2,800 euros.
Purchasing Power Act
Vooruit is making purchasing power the spearhead of its election campaign. "The socialists are the only ones that ordinary people can really count on to protect their work, their purchasing power and their health," says Ms Depraetere.
The party also advocates relaxing the wage norm law. This stipulates that on top of the automatic indexation wages in our country cannot rise faster than in neighbouring countries.
Vooruit wants room for free wage bargaining in high-profit sectors. The party also advocates changing the name of the law: the wage norm law should become the purchasing power law.