Labor and unions agree to boost the minimal wage by 5%, to 1,134 euros | Economy | EUROtoday

The Ministry of Labor and the unions agreed this Friday to boost the minimal wage by 5%, to 1,134 euros gross in 14 funds. Thus, the bottom attainable remuneration escalates for an additional yr, this time from the 1,080 euros at which it has been established for the reason that starting of final yr. Workers with the bottom attainable remuneration, about 2.5 million in line with ministry estimates, earn round one and a half factors of buying energy, since common inflation in 2023 closed at 3.5%. Businessmen don’t subscribe to the settlement, which completes a 54% improve within the SMI since 2018.

Just a number of hours after the parliamentary rejection of the unemployment profit reform, Labor as soon as once more prompts one in every of its political flags, the one it most advocates for together with the labor reform. Yolanda Díaz already introduced yesterday that her division would conclude the negotiation of a brand new improve within the minimal wage right now: “This Friday we are going to close the social dialogue table around the interprofessional minimum wage.”

The coalition Government’s dedication is that the minimal wage is 60% of the common wage. In this regard there’s a warfare of figures, altering relying on the supply from which it’s primarily based. Labor believes that with the minimal wage nonetheless in pressure, that 60% has already been reached, whereas UGT calculates that it ought to rise to 1,200 euros to signify that proportion.

The evolution of social dialogue in these weeks already pointed to five%. The first chapter was written in November by the employers’ affiliation, which stunned all events with a agency proposal of three% plus an extra 1% relying on inflation. The determine coincides with what was agreed with the unions for the agreements within the wage pact, signed in May of final yr. The employee representatives thought-about this proposal inadequate, however welcomed it as excellent news for demonstrating “will to negotiate.”

It didn’t entice as a lot consideration at the moment, however in the identical assertion the employers indicated that their proposal was topic to 2 circumstances: the modification of the value evaluate laws in public sector contracting processes, to influence the rise within the SMI on contracts in execution; and a bonus on the sphere. The passing of the times confirmed that for the businessmen these have been inalienable circumstances, which undermined the optimism relating to the employers’ participation within the settlement 4 years later.

After CEOE and Cepyme put these circumstances on the desk, Labor sources virtually closed the door. At the ministry they indicated that the dialogue desk is devoted to updating the minimal wage, to not different points, so that they thought-about that neither the request relating to the sphere nor that of public contracts are on the heart of the talk. Regarding this second problem, Díaz’s division added that it isn’t even the accountability of the Ministry of Labor. It is a part of the powers of the Treasury.

After the second assembly, during which Labor put the 4% determine on the desk, Díaz’s ministry indicated that it was open to exploring indexation in some administrative contracts and that it will ahead the request to the Treasury. María Jesús Montero closed the door that very same day, December 11. “It would not make any sense for the increase in the interprofessional minimum wage to come at the expense of public administrations having to face a higher cost for the services they provide,” stated Minister María Jesús Montero.

The Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, ended up burying the primary situation of the employers’ affiliation on January 8 given the refusal of the Treasury. Before that third assembly, Díaz’s quantity two additionally made it clear to the employers that they have been keen to go additional if the businessmen distanced themselves. “If we do not reach an agreement around 4%, if the Spanish employers do not agree to sign an agreement with the Government, naturally the Government disassociates itself from that figure, it will seek a bipartite agreement, as it has done on other occasions, and will try to agree with the unions on an increase in the SMI which, obviously, cannot already be at 4%, we are willing, therefore, to make a more ambitious increase,” he said.

A day later, the CEOE made official its refusal to participate in the agreement and classified this Labor movement as “blackmail.” At the same time, CC OO and UGT have been pointing out 5% as the minimum acceptable increase to sign an agreement. “We have few red lines, but this is one of them,” UGT leader Pepe Álvarez said this Thursday. The general secretary of CC OO insisted on the same line on Wednesday: “We have asked that if the employers do not join the agreement, this will have consequences, and the increase will be at least 5%.”

Labor, CC OO and UGT have agreed on the last four increases in the SMI (from 950 gross euros in 14 payments at the beginning of 2020 to 965 in September 2021, from there to 1,000 in September 2022, from that figure to 1,080 in January 2023 and now this new rise). The employers joined them in the January 2020 agreement, which raised the SMI to 950 euros per month. That was the first increase with Díaz as Minister of Labor, but before that there was another acceleration, in December 2018. The then solo PSOE Government, which took the reins after the motion of censure against Mariano Rajoy, committed to its parliamentary partners of Unidas Podemos to increase the SMI from 736 to 900 euros, an agreement that crystallized in the BOE in the beginning of 2019.

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