The unions accuse Labor of "assuming" the employers' proposal on the increase in the minimum wage

The second meeting called by the Ministry of Labor with unions and employers to address a new increase in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) has ended again without agreement and without a new call date. The unions have pointed out that if an agreement is not reached, it will be the Government that will finally decree a percentage increase so that on January 1, 2024, the affected workers know how much they will earn.

At this Monday's meeting, the ministry led by Yolanda Díaz proposed a 4% increase to unions and employers, which would place the amount in 2024 at 1,123.2 euros per month for 14 payments, compared to the current 1,080 euros. just as he had already anticipated he would do.

This was reported to the press upon leaving the second meeting by the confederal secretary of Trade Union Action of CC OO, Mari Cruz Vicente, and the vice-secretary general of Trade Union Policy of UGT, Fernando Luján, who consider that this approach made by Labor ” comes to assume” the request of CEOE and Cepyme, which had proposed an increase of 3%, with the possibility of adding up to 1% in case of deviation from inflation.

During the meeting that took place this Monday, the unions have indicated that an agreement has not been reached because the employers have not wanted to “bring closer positions” and both parties have remained the same: the CEOE with its proposal to raise 3% and the unions with that the increase reaches 60% of the average salary and that this increase is high enough to compensate for the impact of inflation on the most basic products.

In addition to proposing a 4% increase, Labor has committed to studying the establishment of bonuses in Social Security contributions for the rural sector, according to ministry sources consulted by Europa Press. This is a measure demanded by the CEOE, which has specifically requested that this bonus be 20%, but which the unions oppose.

The ministry has also shown its willingness to study the impact of some public contracts affected by the increase in the SMI to transfer it to the competent ministries.. The employers have been asking for the SMI to be indexed to public contracts for some time, a demand with which, a priori, the unions agree.

CC OO and UGT have recalled that this “is not a decision” solely for Labor, since the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Finance are the competent ones, so Labor have pointed out that first “they will have to talk to each other.”. In any case, they have described as “not a priority” indexing the increase in the SMI to public contracts and have indicated that this proposal put forward by the employers, and with which the unions expressed their agreement at the first meeting, should not condition the rise of the SMI.

For their part, sources from the CEOE have indicated to Europa Press that at today's meeting they were informed of the Government's proposal and that their organization has once again put on the table the approaches that led to the first meeting of the SMI. These, the same sources have recalled, have to do with the need to index public contracts to the SMI and with the evolution of this minimum income “going hand in hand” with the general framework of collective bargaining.

For her part, the second vice president of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, assured this Monday that the Executive is “close” to reaching an agreement with unions and employers for the increase in the SMI of 2024 “because the claims” of the social agents are not “very far away.” “I am fully convinced that for the good of the country we will be able to achieve it. “We are very close,” he noted.