The second meeting for the increase in the SMI is closed without an agreement or date for a next meeting

The Ministry of Labor and Social Economy has proposed to unions and employers an increase in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) of 4%, which would place its amount in 2024 at 1,123.2 euros per month for fourteen payments, compared to the current 1,080 euros .

This was reported to the press upon leaving the second meeting to negotiate the increase in the SMI, the confederal secretary of Trade Union Action of CCOO, Mari Cruz Vicente, and the deputy general secretary of Trade Union Policy of UGT, Fernando Luján, who consider that this approach made by Labor "comes to assume" the request of CEOE and Cepyme, which had proposed an increase of 3%, with the possibility of adding up to 1% in case of deviation from inflation.

During the meeting that took place this Monday, the unions have indicated that an agreement has not been reached because the employers have not wanted to "bring closer positions" and both parties have remained the same: the employers with their proposal to raise 3% and the unions that the increase reaches 60% of the average salary and that this increase is high enough to compensate for the impact of inflation on the most basic products.

In addition to proposing a 4% increase, Labor has committed to studying the establishment of bonuses in Social Security contributions for the rural sector, according to Ministry sources consulted by Europa Press. This is a measure demanded by the CEOE, which has specifically requested that this bonus be 20%.

The Ministry has also shown its willingness to study the impact of some public contracts affected by the increase in the SMI to transfer it to the competent ministries. The employers have been asking for the SMI to be indexed to public contracts for some time, a demand with which, a priori, the unions agree.

CCOO and UGT have recalled that this "is not a decision" solely for Labor, since the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Finance are the competent ones, so Labor have pointed out that first "they will have to talk among themselves", as than in relation to the bonus in the field.

The union representatives, together with those of the business organizations, had been summoned this Monday by the Ministry of Labor to continue negotiating the increase in the SMI of 2024. This was the second meeting they held and, after today's, there is no date for now for a new appointment, which will have to be proposed from Work.

UNIONS DO NOT AGREE WITH THE FIELD BONUS

Regarding the bonus for the rural sector that Labor will study and that the employers' association requests, CCOO has indicated that it "does not agree" with this measure if there is no prior commitment on the part of this sector to comply with the collective agreements. to advance in collective bargaining and to comply with the SMI in those agreements where it is not carried out.

"It is a sector that is generating many problems when it comes to complying with the labor rights of workers and, or there is a concrete commitment from the rural sector to comply with labor regulations, to unblock collective bargaining and to apply in those places where There is no collective agreement for the SMI, or we are not going to agree on a minimum wage that is conditional on this sector having a bonus," Vicente warned.

INDEXATION IS NOT A PRIORITY AND THE 3% PROPOSAL IS INSUFFICIENT

Likewise, they have described as "not a priority" indexing the increase in the SMI to public contracts and have indicated that this proposal put forward by the employers, and with which the unions expressed their agreement in the first meeting, should not condition the increase in the SMI. SMI.

For their part, CCOO has reiterated that the CEOE's 3% proposal "from the start" is not enough, because it cannot go below what this year's inflation will be and even the inflation forecasts for the year. next year, and they have chosen not to specify whether they will accept the 4% proposed by the Government, pointing out that "they remain in their current position", which in CCOO involves raising the SMI to 5%.

60% OF THE AVERAGE WAGE HAS NOT YET BEEN REACHED

Another of the criticisms made by UGT after the second meeting has been related to the 60% of the average salary, since, in the words of Luján "yet" a minimum salary equivalent to 60% of the average salary has not been reached, despite the fact that the Ministry of Labor stated in the last meeting that the current SMI was already at that percentage and that now everything consisted of "maintaining it."

"We understand that we have not arrived, that we are on the right path and we must value the efforts that have been made in pursuit of that 60%," Luján pointed out.

The unions have once again defended their position and have indicated that "they will continue negotiating" so that the SMI increases more than inflation.

However, they have pointed out that if an agreement is not reached, it will be the Government that will finally decree a percentage increase so that on January 1, 2024, workers affected by the SMI know how much they will earn.

THE CEOE ALSO MAINTAINS HER POSITION

For their part, sources from the CEOE have indicated to Europa Press that at today's meeting they were informed of the Government's proposal and that their organization has once again put on the table the approaches that led to the first meeting of the SMI.

These, the same sources have recalled, have to do with the need to index public contracts to the SMI and with the evolution of this minimum income "going hand in hand" with the general framework of collective bargaining.

DÍAZ, OPTIMIST

For her part, the second vice president of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, assured this Monday that the Executive is "close" to reaching an agreement with unions and employers for the increase in the SMI of 2024 "because the claims" of the social agents are not "very far away."

"I am fully convinced that for the good of the country we will be able to achieve it. We are very close," said the second vice president in statements to the press during her attendance at the presentation of the new book by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.

Díaz has also indicated that social agents talk about establishing "conditions" for some public administrative contracts, for which indexation of the SMI is requested.

"We are not competent in this matter, but we are willing to transfer this request to the competent ministries. Therefore, there is room for agreement and those administrative concessions that can be reviewed, I am committed to transferring it to the other ministries," he noted. the head of Labor.