The Government delays the increase in the SMI to January after calling for public contracts

The talks to raise the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) began three weeks ago, however, they have remained at a standstill for two weeks, specifically since the day the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy presented its proposal to employers and unions. apply a 4% increase in 2024. This figure is slightly below the demand for CCOO (5%) and exceeds that of entrepreneurs (3% with the possibility of applying another 1% according to the CPI), however, The percentage has not led to the call for negotiations, but rather the refusal of the Treasury portfolio to study the transfer of this increase to public contracts.

The CEOE set this requirement as a condition to support the promotion, so Yolanda Díaz’s team has assumed the role of intermediary in order to get the fourth vice president to address the claim of the employers, who also support the unions. Therefore, it will allow there to be no rush to bring the increase to the Council of Ministers and they point to January as the most likely scenario for it to be approved, something that would not be a problem given that it has retroactive effects. With this margin, the Labor team seeks to find a formula to apply the salary increase only in those public contracts whose continuity is at risk because the companies that present it cannot assume this increase in labor costs.

This “legal formula” that sources close to the Minister pointed to and which remains to be seen if it can materialize, does not exactly match the CEOE’s request. The employers – like the unions – have repeatedly pointed out that the origin of the problem is in the deindexation law approved by the Government of Mariano Rajoy, by which public prices cannot be updated once the contract has been awarded. Although the workers’ representatives also refer to the need to modify the rule that regulates public contracts so that it introduces other criteria to be evaluated by public administrations beyond what is the cheapest offer, which, therefore, usually has associated lower salaries.

Regain the trust of social agents

Furthermore, this margin period may be useful to the Ministry of Labor to temper the spirits of social agents after approving a modification of the unemployment benefit reform in which their contributions have not been taken into account. It was also done through a decree in which the prevalence of regional labor agreements over sectoral or company ones was also established – as the PSOE had agreed with the PNV – which for the unions and employers has meant a broken the relationship of trust they had with Yolanda Díaz’s team.

The truth is that the Government does not need to reach an agreement on this matter, since the power to raise the minimum wage is exclusive to the Executive, although the Ministry of Labor was clear in its desire to seal a three-way agreement. start. of the legislature. This had not occurred since 2020, although everything indicated that this time it would be easier given that the employers’ associations had been the first to propose a 3% increase that could be expanded by another 1%, in line with what was signed in the month. . of May in the Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining. This desire led Díaz’s team to assume as its own the demand for public contracts that it rejected a few weeks ago, however, it has once again encountered the ‘no’ from one of his socialist colleagues, María Jesús Montero.

After hearing about the claim, the head of the Treasury explained that it was not acceptable that these salary increases were paid out of the pockets of Spaniards in a press conference. Although private contacts have not been much more fruitful, according to the sources consulted. This issue is a red line to gather the support of business representatives, so that at the CEOE board of directors held last Wednesday the SMI did not even enter the agenda, waiting to have new news about this intermediation between ministries. However, the small and medium-sized business association, Cepyme, has simultaneously presented a report on the harmful effects of applying a new increase, which seems to prepare the ground for a ‘no’.

The businessmen had been complaining to the Government for almost a year that the SMI had increased by 47% since the arrival of Pedro Sánchez to the Government, an increase that they considered unaffordable for smaller companies that had also experienced an increase in social contributions. . en Linked to the pension reform. The employers’ thesis is that these increases end up pushing up the entire salary table and have even left some sections of the lowest-paid sectors or those with less added value for each worker out of date. Therefore, the change of step by which they were ahead of the unions when it came to proposing a percentage, made the two parties have hopes that today are dissipated.