German Lawmakers Back Minimum Wage After Merkel Cedes to SPD
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German lower-house lawmakers approved a national minimum wage of 8.50 euros ($11.61) an hour, sealing a concession by Chancellor Angela Merkel to her Social Democratic coalition partner.
Backed by Merkel’s four-fifths majority in the Bundestag, the plan to introduce the first statutory pay floor in Europe’s biggest economy passed today by a vote of 535 to 5 with 61 abstentions. It was criticized by industry as damaging to competition and by labor unions who said exemptions go too far.