The Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) will not attend the meeting that has been called this Tuesday the Ministry of Labor to address the increase in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) for 2023, according to sources from the employer.
The business organization claims that “the conditions are not given” so that he can attend the meeting, called for 11:00 a.m., because the Government has neither carried out the mandatory consultation with the social agents in the course of January nor has it made a formal proposal or responded to the one made by the in its day, consisting of a 4% rise in the SMI by 2023, up to 1,040 euros gross per month.
The CEOE maintains this proposal of 4%, which makes the establishment of a regime of deductions applicable to the agricultural sector and a modification of the regulations of the Public Sector Contracts Law to affect the increase of the SMI in the contracts in execution, according to the same sources.
The confederation chaired by Antonio Garamendi hopes that the Executive will formally send him his proposal to raise the SMI in order to discuss it with its member organizations.
Until now, only one meeting has been held to address the rise in the SMI by 2023. It was last December 21 and the employers did not attend due to their discomfort with Labor due to the introduction of an amendment to the Employment Law that gave the Labor Inspectorate control of the causes of collective dismissals and for coinciding with that appointment with the celebration of the Board of Directors of the employer, the first after the re-election of Garamendi as president of the CEOE.
In this way, at the meeting this Tuesday with Labor only the CCOO and UGT unions will attend. The meeting will be chaired by the Secretary of State for Employment, Joaquín Pérez Rey.
According to Ministry sources, the meeting is not merely informativethat is to say, that it has not been called to communicate how much the SMI will rise in 2023, but that the intention of Labor is to continue negotiating with the social agents to reach an agreement.
The meeting will take place after the advanced data of the CPI for January has shown an increase in the interannual rate of inflation of one tenth, up to 5.8%and that underlying inflation has risen to 7.5%, its highest figure since December 1986, which has led the unions to insist on the need to raise the SMI now.
The unions ask for an SMI of 1,100 euros per month
The Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, considers that the SMI is the “most effective” measure to get out of the crisis and “compensate for the loss of purchasing power” that families are experiencing.
For this reason, it has been in favor of raising the SMI of 2023 “to the upper reaches” recommended by the experts who advise the Government on this matter, which would increase this minimum income by 8.2%, up to 1,082 euros gross in 14 payments.
For her part, the First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño, has asked that a “good balance “within” the recommended climbing fork by experts, from 4.6% to 8.2%, to be compatible with job creation.
At the meeting held on December 21, the Government presented the recommendations made by the commission of experts, who proposed raising the SMI in this financial year between 46 and 82 euros per month, which would place this minimum income at between 1,046 euros and 1,082 euros gross per month for fourteen payments.
CCOO he opts for the upper part of that band, the 1,082 euros, with the possibility of extending it to 1,100 euros, a figure for which the UGT advocates. The employers, for their part, although they did not appear at that first meeting, sent a document in which they proposed a 4% increase, up to an amount of 1,040 euros gross per month in 14 payments.
For now, the Government has extended the 2022 SMI, of 1,000 euros gross in 14 payments, until the new quantity is set for this fiscal year. The Executive’s objective and commitment is to reach 60% of the average Spanish salary.
Díaz assured at the end of 2022 that, once the 2023 SMI was approved, would be retroactive from January 1 and opened the door to a review of this income in the middle of the year, based on the behavior of inflation.
The secretary of Trade Union Action, Mari Cruz Vicente, will attend the meeting on Tuesday, on behalf of the CCOO, while, on behalf of the UGT, His deputy general secretary for Union Policy, Fernando Luján, will attend.