Spanish employers, trade unions agree on wage increases
Spain’s main employers’ association, CEOE, and the two key trade unions, CC.On Monday, OO and UGT gave their initial green light to a new bilateral agreement for employment and collective bargaining that establishes a wage increase of 4% in 2023 and 3 % in 2024 and 2025.
The employers’ executive committee unanimously approved the draft for the new agreement, which, along with the path of increases, provides for the possibility of adding up to an additional 1% each year, adjusted to inflation.
The UGT management bodies have also unanimously approved a text that is pending validation by the CCOO, which has called an internal meeting for Tuesday.
The negotiation of the new agreement had been stalled since May 2022, when the employers refused to include wage revision clauses linked to inflation to guarantee purchasing power, something that the unions demanded.
The CEOE also rejected that this negotiation framework should include a rise for 2022, i.e. retroactively, something that is finally left out of the pact.
After weeks of discreet and difficult negotiations, the overall terms of the pact were agreed last Friday.
The AENC serves as a guideline in collective bargaining negotiations, setting out recommendations for wage increases and other aspects related to work organisation.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)
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