The second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, will propose this Wednesday to social agents an increase in the minimum wage of 50 euros (4.4%), which would reach 1,184 euros per month, with fourteen payments, according to confirmed in an interview in La Vanguardia.
This is the highest option proposed by experts, who recommend an increase of 3.4% or 4.4% by 2025, depending on two different calculation methods, that is, increasing the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI). in 39 or 50 euros gross per month, which would rise to 1,173 euros or 1,184 euros gross per month.
Díaz also promises flexibility to the employers if they join the agreement: “I would like nothing more for the employers to join in. If there is an agreement I will be flexible,” he says.
After a few days in which she has been the protagonist of a public confrontation with the socialist area of the Government over the reduction of working hours, the minister redoubles in the interview her accusations against the PSOE for breaking agreements and trying to block the measure and warns that this maneuver is generating a “crisis of confidence” among citizens.
He says that with the Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, he does not have a “personal difference, but rather a deep-seated political difference,” but he insists that the reduction in working hours “will be fulfilled.”
BNG asks for an SMI higher than what the experts say and reach 1,320 euros
The BNG has proposed to the Government the idea of raising the Minimum Interprofessional Salary (SMI) to 1,320 euros per month for 14 payments in 2025, so that it corresponds to 60% of the average salary in Spain as established by the European Social Charter. In this way, it encourages the Government to go beyond the increase proposed by the experts who advise it on this matter.
In the midst of negotiations between the Ministry of Labor and the unions to revalue the SMI, the Block senator, Carmen Da Silva, explains in a written question registered in the Senate that in 2024 the minimum wage (1,134 euros) represented 51.5% of the average salary, which last year reached 2,200 euros according to data from the Tax Agency.
An amount, she says, that “is very far from the minimum wage recommended by the Council of Europe. “It should have been 60% and, therefore, reach 1,320.04 euros per month by 2025,” claims the senator. in the document, which Europa Press has accessed.
Experts recommend raising it to 50 euros
At the moment, there is no firm proposal on the table, but the Committee of Experts that advises the Government on raising the SMI has recommended that the department led by Vice President Yolanda Díaz increase it this year by 3.4% (up to 1,172.5 euros) or 4.4% (putting it at 1,184 euros per month).
With all this, the BNG asks the Government if it should not take as reference the same data handled by the European Committee of Social Rights, which takes as reference the salary modules published by the Tax Agency. Next, the senator wanted to know if the Executive plans to comply with the content of the European Social Charter and place the SMI at 60% of the average salary by 2025.
Finally, the BNG has asked what the Ministry’s position will be in the face of a possible resolution of the European Committee of Social Rights ruling on non-compliance by the State with regard to the SMI, and whether it will rectify it to comply “effectively” with the Social Charter.
A very close reduction in working hours
On the other hand, Díaz assumes that his government partners will change the text on the reduction of working hours to “please” the PNV and increase the chances of successfully passing the parliamentary procedure in the Congress of Deputies.
Thus, the quarrel continues between the Government’s partners over the reduction of the labor reform. Díaz takes into account that the votes of the PNV and Junts are essential and assumes that, in the face of negotiation with the rest of the parliamentary forces, they will change the text. However, she defends that it should be approved urgently and without making changes in the Council of Ministers, knowing that later more or less relevant tweaks will have to be incorporated to attract the necessary votes, especially from the PNV and, above all, from Junts. .
And the second vice president ended the year with an agreement with the unions to reduce the working day from 40 to 37.5 hours a week, but now it must be approved by the Council of Ministers to later be sent to the Cortes and the procedures are not easy at all.
For this reason, Díaz does not want there to be a first ‘screen’ within the Executive and sources close to him point to the Economy as the reason why it cannot be approved in these next few days. From the Ministry led by Carlos Corpus, they insist to Servimedia that they are not against the measure and assure that “it is false” that it will not be carried out, although they do not deny the rejection of the emergency route, as Díaz proposes. Nor do they specify the deadlines that they manage and assure that the measure is a priority.
The clash between Labor and the Economy is at its highest, since in an interview on RNE Díaz even accused Corps of opposing the reduction of the working day, which is “almost being a bit of a bad person.” Days later, on Telecinco, he stated that the Economy was blocking the approval of the text of the reduction of working hours in the Council of Ministers. This was immediately denied by the department led by Corps.
Firmly committed
In fact, the socialist part of the Executive claims to be firmly in place. From Moncloa they remember that now is not the time to open new fronts with PNV and Junts with the start of the negotiation of the General State Budgets for 2025 just around the corner.
The PNV’s main request is that there be “a transcendent agreement” between all agents and not just a few to support the initiative, considering that it is a serious issue and they seek to garner the support of the largest number of agents possible.
Thus, its spokesperson in Congress, Aitor Esteban, stressed on December 23, in an interview on Radio Euskadi, that “we have to look at the fine print to see how we regulate it and how small companies can do it” and assured that “When we see what is presented we will make the decision,” to add that “what would have been desirable would have been an agreement between unions and employers.”
From the training they remember that the administration in Euskadi already complies with the 37.5-hour working day and a good part of the working world, but they do hope to see the “small print” regarding how this reduction in working hours is applied in SMEs.
Junts: “this folder does not open”
For its part, Junts still does not guarantee the approval of this measure and warns that “this folder will not be opened until others are closed.” However, Díaz’s Ministry assures that the Government has already put these negotiations on track with Junts before the Christmas holidays in exchange for a “minimal transfer” by the Executive to Catalonia without wanting to reveal more.
In parallel, the general secretary of UGT, Pepe Álvarez, got involved in smoothing political relations by meeting on December 16 in Waterloo with the leader of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, so that his group supports the measure in the Cortes.
Álvarez, aware that parliamentary life this new year may be impossible without Junts’ seven supports for the Government, demanded that it comply with the agreements reached with the Executive to “continue approving laws.”
Whether or not the employers are part of an agreement to reduce working hours is quite important, since the employers’ signature can attract the support or, at least, the abstention of more conservative parties such as the PP, Junts or the PNV. But this scenario is ruled out by Díaz’s entourage and, therefore, this visit to Puigdemont had special relevance within the Executive.
Junts’ position is important, because without their votes, as without those of the PNV, the reduction of working hours has no chance of succeeding in the Congress of Deputies.
Fewer financial meetings
The Ministry of Economy insists that the matter will not be included in the Government Delegate Commission for Economic Affairs (Cdgae) on January 13, the next one on the horizon, and that its inclusion may be required for the one on January 27.
Meanwhile, Labor sources criticize that the frequency of these meetings has fallen compared to the previous legislature, which further narrows the opportunities to raise issues in the Council of Ministers.
On the other hand, it is worth remembering that the differences between Díaz and Corps are not limited only to the working day, but also to the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI). Yolanda Díaz also accused Corps of not being in favor of increasing this indicator.
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