The challenge launched yesterday by the Ministry of Labor proves to place employers in a delicate situation. The choice between being a possibilist and giving in, and therefore accepting a 4% increase in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI), without indexation of public contracts, or remaining firm, which may bring the increase above of this percentage, up to 5%, for example.
However, at the same time it is also a maneuver that employers have interpreted as “blackmail” and that can deteriorate social dialogue. They are the ones pushing for a resounding rejection of the approach. The CEOE has started internal consultations and could pronounce on the proposal today, without waiting for the next meeting with the social agents that the Spanish Government will convene on Thursday or Friday.
The warning was formulated yesterday by the Secretary of State for Employment, Joaquín Pérez Rey. Ultimately, the approach of a 4% increase depends on whether the CEOE is also added to the agreement. Otherwise, the increase will be higher, although no figures have been specified at the moment. The unions are demanding 5%.
“If we do not reach an agreement around 4%, if the employers do not agree, the Spanish Government will disassociate itself from this figure, and will look for a bipartite agreement that will no longer be able to stay at 4%. We are ready to make a more ambitious increase if the employer understands that it cannot support 4%”, said Pérez Rey, who justified the Executive’s move because “those who do not enter into an agreement, pay the consequences” .
In addition, the Secretary of State also stated that the indexation of contracts with public administrations is not considered, which is one of the essential conditions of the CEOE to join the consensus. It is a step that the Ministry of Finance has flatly refused, and this time, Treball also pointed out that employers “must do an exercise in pragmatism”, that the increase in the SMI is not a surprise , which already knew the intention to equate it with 60% of the average salary, so companies could already foresee what the increases would be.
The Spanish Government is in a hurry to decide, and wants to complete the decision process this week, so that the increase in the SMI can be applied retroactively from January 1.
The employer has started consultations with the sectors most affected by the increase in the SMI, not only those who work with the public sector, who will not see the demand to index contract prices satisfied, but also all the intensive ones in hand of work, and that, therefore, the salary tables in the lowest categories will be more affected.
The proposal made a few days ago by the Ministry of Labor was a 4% increase, which would mean going from the current 1,080 euros per month for 14 payments to 1,123. It is halfway between the approach of the employers, an increase of 3%, and that of the unions, of 5%.
When they left the meeting, the two unions requested responsibility from the employer. “Ask the CEOE to take responsibility and emphasize social dialogue”, said Fernando Luján, vice general secretary of union policy of the UGT, while Mari Cruz Vicente, confederal secretary of union action of CC.OO., stated that “the will of the business organizations for the agreement is lacking. It would be important and then it would facilitate the negotiation of the agreements of the affected categories”.
The major obstacle to achieving consensus is the indexation of contracts with public administrations, an element that the CEOE considers vital in order not to have to assume wage increases without being able to transfer them to the final price. A request supported by the unions. Labor forwarded the request to the Treasury, which responded with a resounding no.
Another employers’ demand is to agree on bonuses of 20% in Social Security contributions for the rural sector. It is a point that the unions can accept, but, in return, they demand that it be accompanied by a commitment from the sector to comply with collective agreements and to progress in collective bargaining.
