Although the CEOE has not attended this morning's meeting on the professional minimum wage (SMI) due to its confrontation with the Ministry of Labor, the employers have sent their proposal in writing and with news. The CEOE accepts a 4% increase in the minimum wage for next year, although with conditions. It is subject to updating the prices of public contracts and deductions for agriculture.
The 4% increase proposed by the CEOE would take the SMI from the current 1,000 euros per month (in fourteen payments), to 1,040. In this way, it is located just below the lower range of the range of the experts' report, which sets it between 1,046 and 1,082 euros. And even further from the proposals of the unions, with demands that range between 1,080 and 1,100 euros. The Ministry of Labor, for the moment, has not formulated any specific proposal, not even at the meeting this morning.
However, the employer's proposal, which is a novelty, because until now they had not specified any figure for this increase in the SMI, comes with two conditions, which are two recurring claims of the CEOE to the Government. On the one hand, establish a system of deductions for the agricultural sector; specifically, a 20% reduction on the business fee for common contingencies, which would be added to the current incentives. And secondly, to modify the regulations for reviewing prices in the public sector contracting processes, so that the increase in the SMI is reflected in the contracts in execution.
There are two demands that the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, already advanced to La Vanguardia in the interview carried out once re-elected. “The SMI is not just a number. First, what about the field? You have to help them because they have a very special situation And second, what about public contracting and indexing? It is not logical that the Government forces companies to raise wages by 33% and does not apply the same proportion to public contracts. It's like saying 'I invite you to dinner, but you pay'," Garamendi said at the beginning of the month.
In its argument for the 4% increase in the minimum wage, the CEOE highlights that it is a higher percentage than the salary increase of the agreements signed in 2022 (3.03%) and the rise of civil servants (3.5%). It also indicates in a statement that they are aware of the impact of inflation on the lowest incomes, and that for this reason they propose a position "in accordance with the salary moderation that is needed to favor economic growth and job creation."
