They assure that the indexation of public contracts to the SMI, a requirement of the CEOE, will be on the table

MADRID, 30 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

CCOO and UGT have closed the first dialogue table of the negotiation for the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) without an agreement on what the percentage increase will be, but with new premises to address this issue in an upcoming meeting set for the 11th. December in which they hope to reach an agreement that includes a percentage increase.

After almost three hours of meeting, the confederal secretary of CCOO Trade Union Action, Marí Cruz Vicente Peralta, and the deputy general secretary of social policy, Fernando Luján de Frías, have indicated that this first meeting "has not been closed with an agreement", But a new premise has been included to continue negotiating the increase in the SMI and that is the indexation of contracts with the public administration to the SMI.

"In this meeting, the request made by the CEOE to update the contracts that the State maintains with the workers was addressed so that they are also updated, as long as this update is intended for the workers and the stability of the contract is guaranteed. employment for public administration workers," said Luján.

In this regard, Vicente Peralta has pointed out that it is "fundamental" to open this process to guarantee that the SMI is applied to all workers not covered by a collective agreement.

Likewise, UGT and CCOO have asserted that, during this Thursday's meeting, the unions have maintained the objective that the SMI is not less than 60% of the average salary and that it is updated taking into account the increase in the shopping basket. , to maintain the purchasing power of families. "We believe that if these parameters are met, an agreement can be reached," Luján assured.

"We have not talked about figures, but about parameters and objectives, (...) but as long as 60% of the average salary is guaranteed and purchasing power is maintained, there will be an agreement," Luján reiterated.

For this reason, they have scheduled the next meeting to raise the SMI for next Monday, December 11, so that, with "the new parameters" that have been put on the table in this first meeting and, "to which there are still to reach an agreement", an agreement can be reached at the next meeting that they hope to close with a percentage.

"We are going to continue the process with a next meeting on the 11th and we hope that in that meeting we will analyze all the reflections made today and we can look for margins of agreement or percentages around the approaches of each of the parties." Vicente Peralta pointed out.

On the other hand, they have reiterated that the CEOE's proposal, to raise the SMI by 3% for 2024 and another 3% for 2025, seems "insufficient" and the increase in the SMI for the year must also take into account that Salaries are increasing above 5%.

"It must be taken into account that salaries this year have increased in a very important part above 5%, so this must be kept in mind when calculating the average salary and an update process must also be carried out based on those parameters because the official data is from 2022 and we are talking about the SMI of 2024", they have added from CCOO.

When asked by the media about the Ministry of Labor's proposal to raise the SMI to 4%, Luján assured that the Ministry of Labor has never indicated a proposal to them.

"The Government has not made any proposal. Furthermore, the Government must be respectful of the positions of the parties, it will have to dictate what corresponds to the Government, but after listening to the parties, so there is no proposal as such," he assured.

However, according to sources from the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy, the department led by Yolanda Díaz would be in favor of the increase in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) in 2024 being around 4%, which would be the percentage increase agreed upon by unions and employers. in the 2023-2025 collective bargaining agreement.

An increase of 4% would take the SMI from 1,080 euros per month for fourteen payments to 1,123.2 euros per month. In any case, for Labor, the floor for the increase in the minimum wage for 2024 is inflation.

The objective of the Department of Yolanda Díaz is that this minimum income, which is earned by around two million workers not covered by collective bargaining, does not lose purchasing power.

Taking into account that the average inflation for the period December 2022-November 2023 was 3.8%, 4% would meet the objective of not losing income power.

The business organizations, which have already made public the proposal that they will bring to the negotiating table, are not opposed to raising the amount of the SMI, but have asked that its increase be limited to 3% in both 2024 and 2025, an approach that To begin with, it does not convince either Díaz or the unions.

UGT and CCOO also consider CEOE's offer for the increase in the SMI to be "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. .

The unions, which for the moment have not offered a specific percentage for the increase in the SMI, have been in favor on numerous occasions of raising the SMI to 1,200 euros per month, which would imply an increase over the current amount of 11.1 %.

The objective, of both the Government and the unions, is to place the SMI at 60% of the average salary, as recommended by the European Social Charter. In this sense, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported last Friday that the average Spanish salary in 2022 was 2,128 euros per month in gross terms. 60% of that amount would be equivalent to about 1,277 euros per month.

However, this Thursday, the general secretary of CCOO, Unai Sordo, stressed that the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) has to rise in 2024 above the CPI and do so in line with the rate at which average salaries increased in the second quarter (5.2%).

"If average salaries in the second quarter of the year are rising to 5.2%, I think that is where the increase in the minimum wage for 2024 should go. That is going to be one of our proposals on the table and we will see if there is willingness to negotiate on the part of CEOE or how the Government is positioned, which until now has basically referred to the CPI," Sordo explained.

In statements to RNE reported by Europa Press, the union leader stated that "we must go beyond the CPI" and allow the SMI to gain purchasing power, "which is necessary, taking into account that such basic products as food from first necessity, they are growing even more.

In this regard, the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, has pointed out that "it is very good to ask" in reference to the request made by the general secretary of CCOO, Unai Sordo, to raise the minimum interprofessional salary (SMI) to around 5 % by 2024, but has asked to take into account the impact that increasing salaries have on companies.