BERLIN (AFP) -- German Labor Minister Olaf Scholz has pledged that the country will implement a minimum wage in all sectors, an issue that has been dividing the ruling coalition, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

“The minimum wage is on its way, for everybody. I am sure of this,” Scholz, a Social Democrat, told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
“We will extend the law to sectors in which there is no minimum wage and where workers have no security ...to fight conditions which we believe are not acceptable.”
The minister’s remarks come amid a controversy over the implementation of a minimum wage for postal workers, a step that was approved by the lower house of parliament last week.
Private delivery services that pay less are up in arms, saying the minimum wage will effectively preserve a near monopoly of Deutsche Post that was set to come to an end in 2008.
PIN Group, a postal services company owned by publishing group Axel Springer, has said the law will force it to lay off 1,000 workers, while bosses in general worry that it will extend to other sectors of the economy.
The minimum wage issue has long been a bone of contention between the Social Democrats and Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats.
The leader of the Social Democrats, Kurt Beck, has been pushing for the implementation of a national minimum salary with the support of the country's trade unions.
The Christian Democrats are opposed to extending the measure beyond a dozen sectors where it applies, but Merkel is believed to be concerned about perceptions that the situation is unfair and has said she is open to limited changes.
Germany is one of the few European Union countries which does not have a national minimum wage.