The CEOE reiterates, after being summoned by Labor, that it is not the time to raise the SMI

The Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) has reiterated that it does not consider that it is the time to raise the minimum interprofessional salary (SMI), after being called by the Government, together with unions and the employer Cepyme, to address this increase.

And, after leaving this salary floor ‘frozen’ last January due to the economic difficulties caused by the crisis derived from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government has resumed its will to raise it.

For this, the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy headed by the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, has summoned the unions CC.OO. and UGT, and the CEOE and Cepyme employers’ associations to a meeting on September 1.

However, the position of the CEOE is that it is not the time to raise the SMI, and so they transfer it to Europa Press, based on the need to maintain employment and not endanger it with an increase in this legal minimum.

The employers recall the words of its president, Antonio Garamendi, who described the procedures for raising the SMI as “social dialogue in quotation marks”, since it is a government faculty after consultation with social agents but, in reality, it is a Executive decision.

An increase in the SMI in Madrid is not the same as in Extremadura

Regarding a possible rise, the employers defend that it is not the time to address a rise in this phase of economic recovery, and that in any case possible increases must be approved in accordance with the agreements reached at the dialogue tables open between companies and unions.

Likewise, in the CEOE they emphasize that a rise in the minimum wage does not impact in the same way in communities such as Madrid, Catalonia or the Basque Country, as in others such as Extremadura, where the cost of living is much lower.

In addition, they are supported by the fact that the SMI has experienced a rise of 31.8% between 2018 and 2020, something unprecedented in the Spanish economy, and also there are still companies and businesses that have not recovered from the crisis.

The rise in the SMI will not be retroactive

Government sources confirm to Europa Press that the rise will not be retroactive, but leave it up to negotiation with social agents whether the rise will begin to be applied from September or already in October.

In this scenario, Labor and the social agents must agree on what percentage this salary is increased. From the unions, both CCOO and UGT have repeatedly demanded the need to increase the SMI and had even announced mobilizations if the Government did not agree.