Yesterday, the unions rejected, as insufficient, the proposal to increase the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) by 3% for 2024 that the CEOE and Cepyme put forward on Wednesday. In a joint statement, the UGT and CC.OO. they positively assessed the employer’s willingness, but they demanded a higher increase.
The trade union centers defended that the final revaluation proposed by the Central Government, whose decision is under competence, after consultation with the social agents, must take into account the increase in the price of food. Unai Sordo, general secretary of CC.OO., explained that the increase in the consumption basket has a greater impact on the lowest wage earners and that the inflation of basic products is more than 3%. Pepe Álvarez, leader of the UGT, took a similar position.
The unions did not offer any concrete figures yesterday, but Sordo did say that the SMI of 2024 should take into account how average wages rise, which he put at 5.2%. Álvarez, for his part, specified an amount last week: 1,200 euros every month.
For the UGT and CC.OO, linking the SMI with the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the AENC, as proposed by the employer, is not appropriate. “The AENC includes clauses linked to the evolution of inflation, common in collective agreements, but difficult to apply in a minimum wage”, defended the workers’ representatives.
In the joint statement, the unions expressed their “willingness to negotiate, as always”, and demanded that the Government convene the social agents as soon as possible.
A gauntlet that was picked up by the second vice-president of the Government and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, who also advanced yesterday that she plans to call “immediately” the social agents for “the immediate increase of the SMI”.
Díaz positively assessed that the CEOE made a proposal to increase the SMI, but warned that the increase in prices will be decisive when closing a figure, with the aim that the affected workers do not lose purchasing power. The vice president emphasized that year-on-year inflation will range between 3.7% and 3.8% in November. The Government, therefore, points to an increase of more than 3% “in the face of an unprecedented inflationary crisis due to the increase in prices”, although the proposal of the CEOE provided for “variables provided for in article 27.1 of the Workers’ Statute, such as the IPC”.
Díaz also remarked yesterday that one of the objectives of the ministry for the legislature is to work in favor of economic democracy and the participation of workers in companies, without distinction. “The sovereignty of the people must always be above market laws, which are very restrictive, very exclusive. And it can’t be this way. (…) There is no one better than a worker to defend his workplace and, above all, for the good development of the company”, defended the leader of Sumar. The Government, he added, “does not want a society based on low wages, as there has been in Spain”, but a European country in terms of wages. “We have a negative differential of 25 points with Europe”, he emphasized.
