CEUTA, 16 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Secretary General of the Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), Unai Sordo, has urged this Wednesday the Government of Pedro Sánchez to summon the social agents “before the day of the Constitution” to agree on a “vigorous” increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI) by 2023 that is at least comparable to that agreed for pensions, which, as he recalled, will be around 8.5%.
“It would not be understandable for the Government to oppose doing the same, it could not be explained why the SMI did not rise in a similar proportion, because it cannot be that almost 2 million workers whose salaries are directly linked to that indicator lose purchasing power” , has warned the trade unionist in statements to the media in Ceuta.
Sordo has also warned that the agreement on the future of the pension system is neither closed “nor close”. “There are permanent contacts, but it has to consist of a structural improvement of the income of the Social Security system with an uncapping of the maximum contribution bases”, he indicated.
The CCOO leader has almost ruled out the possibility of promoting a general strike, because the talks with the central Executive on updating remuneration in public administrations and pensions, regardless of what happens with the SMI, are being resolved satisfactorily “easily”, but has predicted that the conflict will increase if the employer persists in being “stingy” with salary increases.
Sordo has called on the Government of the PSOE and Unidas Podemos for “more public intervention” on energy and fuel prices to continue containing the rise in inflation, but has lamented that “the underlying inflation shows that large companies with the ability to set prices They are passing on the increase in consumer costs to safeguard their profit margins while betting on lower wages”.
“Having increases in the prices of basic products above 15% is a country problem, especially for families with fewer resources,” warned the CCOO general secretary, who congratulated himself on having achieved that 48% of the workers covered by the agreements signed in 2022 have been protected by salary review clauses.
“It is a change in trend, but clearly insufficient, and for the 1,200 agreements that will have to be renewed in 2023 there is no great country agreement that facilitates negotiations, the scenario of May conflict is more than foreseeable”, announced Sordo, who has quantified in the environment of 4.5% the salary increases that would have to be agreed for 2023 and in 3.5% and 2.5% those of 2024 and 2025.
The head of the CCOO at the national level appreciates, however, that “the CEOE’s commitment to the conflict is more than evident” and has warned that, if the working class is led to a loss of purchasing power, “the danger of recession in Spain is multiplying”.
