CCOO and UGT will instruct their negotiators this Thursday to achieve a salary increase of 3.5% in the agreements

MADRID, 9 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

CCOO and UGT will transfer this Thursday to their negotiators the union strategy for the negotiating tables blocked or in conflict, in which the unions seek to achieve a salary increase of at least 3.5% by 2022 and the introduction of the clause of Salary review.

The unions promised to "stress" the negotiating tables in the companies, after the talks with the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) ended without reaching a new Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC).

The reason for the breakdown of these negotiations was "the insurmountable difference" on the salary review clause, as the unions reported after concluding the negotiations at the beginning of May. While the employers were opposed, the workers' representatives considered this condition essential in the AENC.

Now the unions want to return to the negotiating tables with that salary review clause among their demands, to which will be added a salary increase of 2.5% for 2023 and 2% for 2024, in addition to that 3.5% claimed for this year.

That will be the message that they will convey to the 1,500 trade unionists who are members of the negotiating tables blocked or in conflict, whom the CCOO and UGT have convened this Thursday in Madrid, under the slogan "Salaries or conflicts", in a meeting set for 11.00 in the Reina Sofía Museum Square.

The event will be attended by the Secretary General of the CCOO, Unai Sordo, and that of the UGT, Pepe Álvarez. Both union leaders have expressed in recent months the need to raise wages so that workers do not lose purchasing power, especially in the face of escalating inflation. In May, the advance figure for the CPI stood at 8.7%, with underlying inflation close to 5%, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Meanwhile, the wages agreed in an agreement rose by an average of 2.01% in January, above what was registered in 2021 (1.47%), but far from the CPI, according to data extracted from the collective bargaining statistics of the Ministry of Work and Social Economy. This salary increase is below the 3.6% increase agreed between the Government and the unions for the 2022 minimum interprofessional salary (SMI) and is somewhat more in line with the guidelines set out in the last AENC.