Antonio Garamendi, president of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), has asked the Minister of Labor and Vice President of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, that the increase in the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) also extends to public contracts. The objective, according to Garamendi, is to compensate for the increase in companies’ costs.
Garamendi has claimed that what the Government has to “explain” is whether it is going to implement this increase “in public contracts.” This was stated by the highest representative of the business association at the press conference held after the inauguration of the IV France-Spain Economic Forum, in which his French counterpart (Medef), Patrick Martin, also participated.
SMI rise
The president of the CEOE has recalled, according to Efe, that the employers’ association has already expressed its proposal for the increase in the SMI, which would mean 3% in 2024 and the same percentage in 2025, while it does not know the Executive’s proposal. Garamendi has based his claim that the increase in the SMI applies to public contracts on the fact that “many small companies that provide public services are really suffocated.”
“It is very easy to raise salaries but refrain from applying the relevant part,” lamented the president of CEOE. Although Garamendi has declined to evaluate the restructuring proposal and the employment regulation file (ERE) announced this Monday by Telefónica, the leader of the employers’ association has stated that “these things happen so that the company can move forward.”
Meeting with Labor this Thursday
The Ministry of Labor and Social Economy convened CEOE, Cepyme, CCOO and UGT next Thursday with the purpose of addressing what will be one of the first measures of the coalition Government during this legislature, the increase in the SMI. The interprofessional minimum wage is currently located at 1,080 euros per month in 14 payments and the new Executive intends to raise it again by 2024.
Business organizations are not opposed to raising its amount again, but have asked that its increase be limited to 3% in both 2024 and 2025, an approach that has not convinced Díaz, although he assured these days that he will take the proposal into account. of businessmen. The minister has already warned that the SMI cannot lose purchasing power. In this sense, a few days ago we recalled that year-on-year inflation in November will range between 3.7% and 3.8%, therefore above the 3% proposed by employers.
The unions see it as insufficient
UGT and CCOO have also considered the CEOE’s offer for the increase in the SMI “insufficient” and advocate taking into account, not only the general CPI, but also the evolution of the prices of basic products, such as food, to determine its increase. However, the unions understand that the SMI must provide “the minimum of sufficiency and dignity” indicated in the European Social Charter (60% of the average salary), so they do not see it appropriate to link the increases in the SMI to what was agreed in the AENC. . (Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining.”
“The AENC includes clauses linked to the evolution of inflation, common in collective agreements, but difficult to apply in a minimum wage,” the unions stressed in a statement released this week.
How much should the SMI rise to?
The SMI will have to rise to 155 euros to adapt to Sánchez’s ‘promise’ goal. At the beginning of this year, the Government agreed, only with the unions, to raise the SMI by 8% for 2023. Its commitment for this legislature is to establish, by law, that this minimum income must always be equivalent to 60% of the average salary. . . The CEOE also did not join the increases in the SMI for 2022 and 2021 agreed by the Government of Pedro Sánchez with CCOO and UGT, but it did agree with them on the increase in 2020, when it increased from 900 to 950 euros per month.
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