The cards are drawn in the game of the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI). The CEOE has now officially ruled itself out of the consensus, although it will attend the meeting called on Friday; CC.OO. reacts by asking for a 5% increase in the face of the bosses’ no; and the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, affirms that “on Friday we are going to raise the minimum wage a lot,” although without giving the figure.

The challenge launched on Monday by the Secretary of State for Employment, Joaquín Pérez Rey, surprised by its forcefulness and the timing chosen, just before starting the meeting with the social agents. For him to warn the employers that he was not joining the consensus would have a price, in the form of an increase greater than the 4% proposed, which was what the unions asked the Government; but even they were surprised by the time and place of raising the notice.

If it was an attempt to force the CEOE to be more pragmatic, it has not worked. On Monday, sources from the employers’ association were already talking about “blackmail”, and on Tuesday it was its own president, Antonio Garamendi, who criticized what he described as threats and blackmail from the Government. Yesterday, consultations were still held in the employers’ association with the sectors most affected by the increase in the SMI, but the result was a rejection that the president of ATA, Lorenzo Amor, made explicit this morning. The CEOE “is not going to be in the agreement” because the requirements posed by the businessmen are not met,” said Amor, adding that “we are not going to engage in blackmail.”

The critical point has been the refusal of the Ministry of Finance to allow indexing of contracts with the public administration, which the CEOE had raised as an essential condition. By not complying with it, it is discarded from the agreement, assuming that it will have a price in the form of an increase greater than the 4% initially proposed by the Government. On the other hand, the Executive will also have its drawback, not being able to show off a three-way consensus which, in times as hectic as the current one, has its value.

Under these conditions, with the employers’ association distancing itself, CC.OO demands a 5% increase, and also denies that the Government’s negotiating tactics involve any type of blackmail. “What there is here is a negotiation and in a negotiation, when you do not reach an agreement, logically, the non-agreement has to have a cost because if not, there is no incentive for an agreement,” declared its secretary general, Unai Sordo. .

With all the cards played, now only the Government’s decision remains, whether to increase the SMI from the 4% initially proposed to 5%, for example. The Minister of Labor said this morning that “on Friday we are going to raise the SMI a lot.”

The SMI is currently 1,080 euros per month for fourteen payments. In this way, the 4% increase would have taken it to 1,123 euros, and if it reached a 5% increase, it would be 1,134 euros.