The president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, has announced a increase of 8% of interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) up to 1,080 gross euros per month in 14 payments. The Spanish government has agreed with the unions, but the employers’ union has opted out of the pact for another year. “With this we comply with the legislature’s commitment to place it in the 60% of the average salary in Spain“, Sánchez claimed this Tuesday afternoon in an appearance in the Senate. The SMI is currently 1,000 euros. The increase will be applied retroactively from January 1. The increase of 80 euros per month is very close to the highest figure proposed by the committee of experts of the Ministry of Labor, which was 1,082 euros per month.
The agreement with the unions was unlocked this Tuesday after a last-minute meeting between the second vice-president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, and the general secretaries of CCOO and UGT, Unai Sordo and Pepe Álvarez. Previously, the Secretary of State for Labour, Joaquín Pérez Rey, had already met with members of both unions. No member of the employer attended the meeting.
The CEOE refused to participate in the meeting, but had maintained its proposal formulated in December to increase the SMI by 4% to 1,040 gross monthly euros in 14 payments. The unions claimed that this increase reach 1,100 euros.
The committee of experts from the Ministry of Labor had proposed four scenarios for raising the minimum wage. The lowest was 46 euros and the highest 82. In addition, the committee also proposed two intermediate scenarios with monthly increases of 54 and 66 euros.
Díaz celebrated the agreement in a tweet on Twitter and stated that it is “a very important day for the workers” of the Spanish state. “Thanks to the agreement with the unions, we make effective one of the major commitments of the legislature: to reach at least 60% of the average salary,” he said.
Spanish government sources have highlighted that since Sánchez arrived in Moncloa, the SMI has increased by 47%. From 735.9 euros per month in 2018 to 1,080 in 2023. It has also been claimed by the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, on Twitter. Sánchez has also stated that Spain is the second OECD country that has increased it the most.
The unions celebrate it but warn that the work is not over
In an appearance before the media following Sánchez’s announcement, the leaders of the UGT, Josep Maria Álvarez, and CCOO, Unai Sordo, celebrated an increase that will go “directly to the veins of the most disadvantaged workers”, in the words d’Álvarez, and which will contribute prominently to the improvement of domestic consumption, according to Sordo, one of the macroeconomic parameters that is suffering the most from the crisis.
Both have thanked the government for fulfilling its promise to move the SMI towards 60% of the average salary in the State, but both have also warned that this path has not yet been reached. it’s over Although they admit that the figure of 1,080 euros is “on the high side”, neither of them has ventured to state that it is the percentage pursued because, the determination of what the average salary is, is currently the subject of debate by the experts
In any case, both one and the other have also criticized that the employer, represented by the CEOE, has decided not to attend the meeting. “If this is going to be at meetings where money is distributed, like those of PERTE, but not at those to raise workers’ salaries, let them say so,” criticized Sordo. Both the UGT and the CCOO warn the employer that it is necessary to continue working, in addition, to reach agreements regarding collective bargaining in the business sectors that today have not benefited from the increase in the SMI.
Beyond this, the two unions have celebrated that the policy of pacts between the government and the workers’ defense formations have made it possible to “protect the incomes” of 15 million people in the State, including pensioners, workers who they cover the SMI and the civil service. If to this is added the workers affected by collective agreements that have been regularized upwards, the figure could rise to between 16 and 17 million people. “A few million people remain affected by an inflationary scenario that calls for the need for an agreement in collective bargaining. We call on the CEOE to exercise responsibility with its country for once.” Sordo emphasized.