They propose setting a minimum contribution to Corporate Tax of 15% or 20% of total benefits if there is no agreement with CEOE
CCOO and UGT will ask CEOE in the negotiation of the interconfederal collective bargaining agreement for initial salary increases of 5% for 2022, 4.5% for 2023 and 3.75% for 2024, with the inclusion of a mixed salary review clause that addresses both the maintenance of the purchasing power of wages and the economic situation of companies, measured by the evolution of their profit margin.
This is stated in the proposal that both unions have prepared and that they have made public through a statement and not at a press conference, as they initially planned to do at noon this Wednesday.
This appearance, which the leaders of the CCOO and UGT, Unai Sordo and Pepe Álvarez, were going to star in, was finally suspended due to the "leaking" of part of the content of the proposal without it having been finalized in all its sections.
The unions have reformulated their salary proposal by introducing new criteria on the salary review clause, which will no longer be linked only to the evolution of prices, but also to the economic progress of the companies.
The CCOO and UGT propose that an additional increase be added to the initial salary increases proposed for each year of the 2022-2024 period (5%, 4.5% and 3.75%) due to the deviation from inflation in each of the years of the agreement.
In addition, said additional salary increase, which will be set through a salary review clause, will be linked to the information obtained through the Economic Information System for Collective Bargaining (SIENC) so that the recovery of the purchasing power of wages is related to the economic evolution of the sectors through "reliable data".
According to the union proposal, this salary recovery clause will preferably operate at the end of each year and, in any case, it will be the collective agreements themselves that establish other sequences of entry into force of the clause: at the end of the 2022-2022 cycle. 2024 or a percentage distribution in both times (a percentage of the recovery at the end of the year and another at the end of the cycle).
To prepare this indicator, which they call SIENC, the unions ask Social Security to generate a list of the companies covered by each collective labor agreement based on the agreement code provided by each company.
Based on these lists, they state, the Tax Agency (AEAT) would add the information that it already publishes on sales (based on VAT returns), purchases (VAT supported) and salary payments (IRPF model 111) since 2014.
"The very configuration of this indicator should be submitted to a process of dialogue and negotiation, for which a willingness from the Government to provide and make the necessary data transparent is important," they point out.
The CCOO and UGT propose that the SIENC be organically located in the AEAT's Tax Studies and Statistics Service, given that the bulk of the information will come from the tax records that this service operates.
DEADLINE MAY 1 AND IF THERE IS NO AGREEMENT: CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANIES
The unions assure that the negotiation with CEOE of this agreement pact could not go beyond May 1, and if they do not reach an agreement, they urge the Government to promote the pertinent fiscal actions "to channel the surpluses that the government is appropriating businessmen, even the social majority, in order to strengthen the final consumption of families and reduce the risk of an economic slowdown greater than that already foreseen".
The UGT and CCOO affirm that the fixing of salaries is a "fundamental task" of the social agents, but they remind the Executive that it cannot "remain outside", and allude to the "income agreement", still indefinite, which, in their opinion, should include measures on wages, surpluses and business benefits, income, prices or taxation, among others.
To this end, the CCOO and UGT propose establishing a minimum contribution to Corporation Tax of 15% or 20% of total profits.
The unions emphasize that the tax effort of large companies is below that of SMEs, despite the fact that the former are the ones that take advantage of the common economic and social infrastructures financed with taxes.
Thus, SMEs have effective rates of between 13% and 20.5%, while for companies with a turnover of more than 1,000 million euros, the taxes they pay only represent 4.8% of their profit, as they point out. unions.
For CCOO and UGT, large companies make an "insufficient contribution" to the public system, unbalance competition against SMEs, and take advantage of "all holes in tax regulation to pay less." In this sense, the unions advocate eliminating the group tax regime.
CCOO and UGT insist that the collection of these taxes should be aimed at "improving people's disposable income." In this sense, the general secretary of the UGT, Pepe Álvarez, has called on the employers to return to the table and has insisted that "this is the time for an agreement."
"We have to distribute the wealth that is being generated in our country. The companies win, win and win, the benefits multiply," he said in a video released by his union.
In addition to the proposed increases, Álvarez has stressed that these must be accompanied by that "flexible review clause" that they have developed in the document.
The UGT general secretary has also warned the employers that if an agreement is not reached, the collective agreements will be negotiated one by one and this will mean going "conflict by conflict" until they achieve their demands.
