MADRID, 28 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Government will resume when the year begins the negotiation with social agents for the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI) of 2023, for which reason the increase will be applied retroactively from January 1 of next year, as confirmed by the second vice president and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz.
At a press conference to take stock of the first year of the labor reform, Díaz reported that negotiations for the rise in the SMI will resume “probably already when the year begins” and he did not want to reveal any progress on the subject, waiting for the meetings.
And it is that, asked if there is an agreement with the socialist wing of the Government and with the first vice president, Nadia Calviño, on the specific figure that the Executive as a whole is considering, Yolanda Díaz has limited herself to commenting that her conversations about the SMI are “with the President of the Government”.
The Government has included in the royal decree of economic measures that approved this Tuesday the extension to 2023 of the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI) of 2022, located at 1,000 euros per month, waiting for the Ministry of Labor to agree with the social agents on the figure for next year.
The royal decree-law approved yesterday and published this Wednesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE) extends the validity of the 2022 SMI until 2023 “during the period necessary to guarantee the continuity of the work of the social dialogue table in the search, one more year, for an agreed increase in the minimum interprofessional wage”, according to the text of the regulation.
The Executive understands that it is necessary to guarantee the “effective participation” of the social agents in setting the SMI in a social and economic context “of special difficulty”, thus giving continuity to the path of growth of this variable in compliance with the commitments assumed in the European and international level.
But given the forecast of lack of agreement on December 31, when the SMI of 2022 ceases to produce effects, the Government affirms that there are reasons of “extraordinary and urgent necessity” that make it “unavoidable to temporarily maintain its validity as of January 1 (from 2023)”.
“In this way, legal security is guaranteed and continuity is given to the function of the interprofessional minimum wage of serving as a floor or minimum wage guarantee for workers,” the Executive stressed in the decree.
In this way, the 2022 SMI is extended “temporarily” and until the decree that sets it for the year 2023 is approved within the framework of social dialogue and taking into account the provisions of article 27 of the Workers’ Statute : the consumer price index, the national average productivity, the increase in labor participation in national income and the general economic situation.
Precisely this Wednesday, the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, has trusted that “an attempt will be made” to reach an agreement on the Minimum Interprofessional Wage during the first quarter of next year.
The Government already has the expert report on the table, which recommends a range of between 4.6% and 8.2% for 2023, as well as its review after six months to assess its adequacy in a context of high inflation.
CCOO wants it to rise from the current 1,000 euros for fourteen payments to between 1,082 euros and 1,100 euros, which would mean a percentage increase of between 8.2% and 10%. UGT, directly, asks to bring the SMI up to 1,100 euros and CEOE and Cepyme propose an increase of 4%, up to 1,040 euros per month.
At the moment, the Executive has not put any figures on the table, although it is normal that, as happened in 2022, it is guided by the suggestions made by the experts. The second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, wants to agree on the increase with the social agents, although the CEOE is not in favor of agreeing on an increase of more than 4%.
Adding businessmen will be difficult. Not only have they set conditions to raise the SMI by 4% in 2023, but they consider relations with Labor to be broken after the Employment Law included an amendment that will allow the Labor Inspectorate to control the causes alleged by companies in the dismissals collective.
In any case, whether or not there is an agreement with the unions or with both parties, the increase in the SMI of 2023 will have retroactive effects from January 1 of next year.
