Shortly after, the approval came, also unanimously, from the UGT, which stressed that “this agreement is a starting point that will allow a more equitable distribution of wealth… it must also serve to promote collective bargaining among the 1,400 pending agreements and will reach all those companies and sectors where there is less union strength”.
In the agreed agreement, to which “La Vanguardia” has had access, two elements are specified. On the one hand, that the additional increase based on inflation will be made annually, and will not be retroactive. That is to say, if in 2023 inflation is higher than 4% “a maximum additional increase of 1% will be applied with effect from January 1, 2024,” says the document. In the following two years, the same rule will be applied in the event that inflation exceeds 3%, always without retroactive character.
Let us remember that the year 2022, despite the fact that it was the year with the highest inflation, 8.4%, is not included in the agreement, and therefore the AENC will not serve as support or recommendation to the different agreements under negotiation. It was a requirement of the employer, who wanted to pave the way for retroactive salary increases.
CC.OO. must be pronounced tomorrow
The document also states that the negotiators of the collective agreements “must take into account the specific circumstances of their field to set the salary conditions”, so that the application of these recommendations, because let’s remember, what the AENC sets are recommendations , adapts to each sector or each company. This is one of the usual demands of the employers, to which the unions recently gave their endorsement. In other words, take into account the evolution of each company to set salary increases, given that there are important differences between the growth of the sectors, their results or the incidence that the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI) may have.
The agreement also includes one of the recurring requests of the CEOE to the Government; that of modifying the regulations for price revision in public sector contracts to allow prices to be revised when there are regulatory changes or collective bargaining agreements that could not be foreseen at the time of the tender. These are elements that can lead to increases in labor costs, and that companies currently cannot affect.
From the employers, it is emphasized that it is an agreement between the employers and the workers, without the participation of the Government. It is something perfectly known by all, but that, in this case, the CEOE has a special interest in underlining. That it is a bilateral issue between the social partners, and without government intervention.
With this AENC, employers and unions ensure a long period of social peace in Spain. The agreement will allow workers to recover part of the purchasing power lost over three years, and companies to avoid an increase in labor disputes. The agreement shows the vitality of social dialogue in Spain, with a multitude of agreements since the outbreak of the pandemic, among which the labor reform stands out, on which the document highlights that “to date it has produced good results” and points to “a success in the agreed measures inasmuch as they are helping to eradicate certain pathologies in our labor market, such as high temporary employment or the massive destruction of jobs in times of crisis”.
