The unions demand that wages "do not pay the duck" of the 'rent agreement' due to the reluctance of employers
The salary negotiation is independent of the Government and this has been stated by the majority unions and employers in response to the call from Pedro Sánchez to a "revenue pact" before the war in Ukraine. The leaders of the CCOO and UGT, as well as those of CEOE and Cepyme, have expressed it in a meeting at the highest level in Moncloa with the President of the Executive and numerous ministers. The unions have insisted that wages "cannot pay the price" of the negative consequences of the international conflict that impact our economy, while employers remain reluctant to accept significant increases in the face of uncertainty and high inflation. "Indexing wages to inflation would be a real mistake," the employers have insisted.
The rise in wages is seen as the "main stumbling block" in the state negotiation between employers and unions
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President Pedro Sánchez summoned last week to a "great income pact", in which employers and unions had a prominent role in terms of salary negotiations and the moderation of business benefits. However, the social agents today have marked a certain distance and have underlined the independence of the bipartite salary negotiation for a state agreement (AENC) of a future "income agreement". These two-way talks have only just begun and they have a second meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 9, waiting for the parties to specify what salary increases they propose for this year.
Given the high inflation and the risk of generating loops of price increases, the CCOO and the UGT have reiterated their commitment to "purchasing power guarantee clauses", which guarantee that at the end of a period of two or three years the staff They will not reduce your purchasing power. Even without giving figures of the union proposal, Unai Sordo, leader of the CCOO, has mentioned that an increase of 2% is "clearly insufficient" given the current escalation of prices, above 7%.
For their part, businessmen have made visible the great differences that exist in the negotiation of this issue. The leaders of the CEOE and Cepyme employer associations, Antonio Garamendi and Gerardo Cuerva, have highlighted the current moment of uncertainty to highlight that "companies are having a very bad time" and that "this is not the time" to agree on significant salary increases. Both businessmen have highlighted the need to decouple wage increases from inflation and have opted to speak of "productivity" of companies.
The unions ask the Government for more measures
CCOO and UGT have claimed to the Executive that a "revenue agreement" must cover many other measures, beyond the contribution that a salary agreement in the private sector between unions and employers in the AENC may have.
For example, they have suggested "price control" measures in matters such as energy and raw materials that are going to increase in cost due to this crisis, as well as possible reinforcements of social protection for the most vulnerable population and review of taxes for increase public collection and guarantee investments by the State.
Unai Sordo, leader of the CCOO, has considered that the moderation of "business profits and margins" to which President Pedro Sánchez referred last week can be put into practice with a corporate tax reform, by which a greater contribution of companies to the costs of the State. Pepe Álvarez, leader of UGT, has also mentioned possible measures against the distribution of dividends.
Instead, Antonio Garamendi has rejected that the management of this crisis ends with "more State intervention" in the economy or changes in taxes and control of the economy. "We would not agree," warned the CEOE leader.
This Monday's meeting took advantage of a routine meeting of the monitoring table of the European Recovery and Resilience Plan, which is usually held at the Ministry of Economy and led by Vice President Nadia Calviño. But, after the invasion of Ukraine and the war started by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, the appointment was transformed into a meeting at the highest level headed by Pedro Sánchez with the leaders of the social agents to address the claimed "rent agreement".
Sánchez demanded last week that the two parties, companies and workers, make "sacrifices" in this pact, both on the side of "salary costs", the president pointed out, and through "the moderation of the margins and profits of the companies" . All this, to "avoid falling into an inflationary spiral, which undermines the purchasing power of families, of savers and puts economic recovery at risk," he pointed out.
