How the minimum wage will rise in Spain
In Spain, the government and trade unions have agreed to raise the minimum wage. Against the representatives of entrepreneurs. All the details
On Thursday, during an emergency meeting at night and after days of complicated negotiations, the Spanish government and the unions reached an agreement on raising the minimum wage by 15 euros per month.
The agreed figure, explains the Spanish newspaper El Pais , is positioned in the middle of the spectrum (from 12 to 19 euros) proposed by the committee of experts convened by the executive of Pedro Sánchez.
THE NEW MINIMUM WAGE IN SPAIN
Compared to 2020, the increase in the minimum wage – which applies retroactively from 1 September, as requested by the Minister of Labor Yolanda Díaz – is 1.6 percent. That is 965 euros per month, against 950 last year and 900 of the one still previous.
THE GROWTH FORECAST FOR 2023
In the joint statement released after the agreement was reached, no details are given on the growth trajectory of the minimum wage for the years to come: in 2023 it should reach 1049 euros per month; the unions would like to see 1000 in 2022.
WHAT THE UNION SAID
Mariano Hoya, a prominent member of the UGT union – one of the most important in the country and close to the PSOE, Sánchez's party -, called the agreement "positive" and said that the government is "on the right track" regarding the gradual increase in the minimum wage. However, he asked the executive to convene new negotiations as soon as possible, so that it is possible to guarantee monthly salaries of at least 1000 euros starting from 1 January 2022.
In recent weeks, both the UGT and the CC OO (another major Spanish trade union) had said they would not sign any agreements with the government without a clear trajectory for 2023.
POSITIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT
In recent months, the Minister of Economy Nadia Calviño thought that we should wait for the recovery to take shape and for the employment data to show a positive situation, before making any decisions that could alter – or aggravate – the performance of the economy. At the beginning of September, however, reassured by the good performance of the labor market, Sánchez announced that the increase in the minimum wage would be "imminent", reports El Pais .
THE CONTRARY ENTREPRENEURS
Opposing the agreement, and not signatories, are the representatives of the business world. The Spanish Confederation of Businesses (CEOE), through its president Antonio Garamendi, said that "it is not the time to raise the minimum wage: there will be less employment, more shadow economy".
THE INCREASE OF ELECTRICITY
Like Italy , Spain too is faced with an increase in electricity bills in the next quarter (October-December). To avoid passing the increase on households, the Sánchez government said it would impose a ceiling on the prices of natural gas (the primary source of electricity generation) and lower the electricity tax.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/spagna-salario-minimo-accordo-governo-sindacati/ on Fri, 17 Sep 2021 13:19:56 +0000.