The UGT and CCOO ask to raise the minimum wage at least 7%

BarcelonaThe majority unions are calling for an increase in the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) of at least 7% by 2027, thus placing it above 1,300 euros per month. In a joint press conference held by the UGT and CCOO in Madrid, both organizations defended an increase that would lead to updating the threshold to at least 1,306 gross euros in 14 payments, or 1,524 euros in twelve. Currently, the minimum wage in the State is 1,221 gross euros in fourteen payments, which is equivalent to 1,424 euros in twelve monthly installments.

"Taking into account the imbalance between the increase applied in February of this year and the CPI, we are talking about a difference of around 2%. Therefore, we believe that the increase in the SMI for 2027 must reach at least 7%," said the secretary general of the UGT, Pepe Álvarez. For his part, his counterpart at CCOO, Unai Sordo, added: "The minimum interprofessional wage must rise soon by at least 7%, to stand above 1,300 euros per month in 14 payments, which is equivalent to more than 1,500 euros per month if we calculate it in 12 payments".

As they explained, it is expected that this increase in the SMI will be one of the demands of the general strike scheduled for November 11th. Sordo also recalled the Spanish government's commitment to legislate to prevent the absorption and compensation of salary bonuses and supplements within the minimum wage. The Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, began the steps last week to be able to set the increase, and does not rule out that the increase could end up being approved in the middle of the election campaign, which starts on November 13th.

Mobilizing unrest over housing

Regarding the November 11th strike, the secretaries general of the UGT and CCOO have defended the need to mobilize to accompany the "unrest" on the streets regarding the housing situation. Álvarez pointed out that the "recipients" are diverse, starting with the CEOE employers' association, from whom they demand the immediate opening of salary negotiations with a new agreement for employment and collective bargaining (AENC, for its acronym in Spanish), and continuing with the different public administrations, territorial governments, and the state government. "No one can be exempt [...], but the decisive powers in housing lie with the autonomous communities," asserted Sordo, who emphasized that salary and housing claims go hand in hand.

"The consequences that housing has on wages are evident. We have been saying for a long time that there is no collective agreement that can withstand the impact that the price of housing has on the cost of living," said Álvarez. The secretary general of CCOO, moreover, accepted that the called strike "does not respond to the historical patterns of what a general strike is in Spain," but assured that "it has not been improvised by the trade union organizations." Sordo also wanted to highlight the current business context: "Companies are accumulating more profits than ever and they must distribute them through a generalized increase in wages".