CEOE, Cepyme, UGT and CCOO have reached a preliminary agreement this Friday to recommend to all sectors of the economy that they apply a wage increase of 4% this year and 3% in 2024 and 2025, increases that could go up to by an additional 1 percentage point if inflation remains above those levels.
As Cadena SER has advanced and EL MUNDO has confirmed, employers and unions are closing a pre-agreement this Friday -which must be ratified in their respective government boards on Monday- to renew the Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC ), a framework that serves as a guide for the negotiation of collective agreements in the country and gives a guideline of how much wages should rise in the country, in the opinion of the representatives of companies and workers.
Negotiation sources tell this newspaper that they are still at the table and the negotiations have not yet concluded, which they expect to continue throughout the weekend. In fact, the increase this year could reach up to 4.5% depending on how the conversations evolve. Salaries and the inclusion of the aforementioned salary review clause -which a priori would be blocked- are being negotiated by the leaders of the organizations, while the technical teams of the employers and unions are dealing with the rest of the issues.
A priori, experts expect inflation to moderate, closing this year at around 4.5% and going down next year to around 3%, so that with these wage increases workers would not lose purchasing power. However, if there is a surprise and inflation accelerates again next year, for example to 5%, employees will be assured of a 4% rise, in the event that companies apply this non-binding recommendation.
In addition to the clauses, which were one of the main reasons for the confrontation between the two parties, the retroactive increase in salaries from 2022 -in tables, to apply that of 2023 to that virtual increase- is another of the elements that has generated friction in the table. It seems that, for now, this rise would not occur.
The unions have been pressuring the employers for a year to close this agreement, but the negotiation has blown up on several occasions, mainly due to the problem that the inclusion of salary review clauses posed for companies. The dialogue, however, resumed with better spirit this winter and, especially, after the last joint proposal of the unions.
Although the AENC is not mandatory, it is important that it be updated, since many collective agreements that are under negotiation were stopped waiting for a general framework.
The unions precisely gave the CEOE an ultimatum weeks ago and asked that an agreement be reached in the month of May at the latest. If not, they warned, the mobilizations would go from being sectoral to generalized.
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