The clause to hedge salaries against inflation becomes an “insurmountable” obstacle, although the door to other agreements is not closed
It is the chronicle of a predicted death: that of the V Agreement on Labor and Collective Bargaining (AENC) negotiations. There will be no pay pact this year, at a time when it was most needed due to skyrocketing inflation that has pushed prices to peak levels more than three decades ago, affecting the economy of much of the workers, especially those with the lowest incomes. “The trade unions and business associations negotiating the VAENC consider the negotiation process closed for this year.” This was communicated by the CC OO after the last meeting this Thursday by the social agents with the aim, without success, of unblocking a negotiation that everything foreshadowed that it would fail.
The organization led by Unai Sordo considered any collective bargaining agreements broken for this year and spoke of “insurmountable differences”, referring to salary review clauses, which have become an insurmountable obstacle. However, from UGT they maintained a slightly softer stance and while admitting that negotiations on salary increases have ended, they made it clear that there are other issues to be negotiated and even opened the door to resume the dialogue later, perhaps on the the day of the end of the year, when inflation may have decreased. “Nothing is broken for UGT,” said union sources, who urged to watch the negotiations that are open on several accords come to an end.
The CEOE also does not consider the negotiations to be finalized yet, which acknowledged that “positions are still a long way between the parties and the agreement does not seem possible at the moment”, although they do not want to make the shipwreck of the income agreement official yet. In any case, the employers will submit all these matters to consultations in their internal bodies and point out that in the event that an agreement with the trade unions is not possible, they will formulate “a document with recommendations for collective bargaining”.
Because the failure of an income pact does not mean that workers’ wages will not rise this year. No, the AENC is merely a recommendation from unions and employers as to how much they think wages should be increased, and while the guidelines are followed in most cases, the final word is left to the companies’ representatives when negotiating any Agreement. . Therefore, the committee will now have the task of negotiating, company by company or sector by sector, the new conditions of the employees without a clear roadmap.
The major stumbling block in these negotiations was not, as usual, the rate by which wages should rise, but the commitment to shield workers’ purchasing power with a clause requiring that at the end of the year that revaluation be carried out in accordance with the inflation. For example, unions and employers have remained inflexible in their stances on this issue: the first, demanding that the so-called wage guarantee clause be included in all contracts and that the review be done at the end of the year and not a period, and employers make a link of wages to the CPI in full, a position also defended by the Bank of Spain, as it points out that if rents are indexed to current inflation, it is 8.4% and comes close to 10% , it’s structural, and that’s exactly what you want to avoid.
On the contrary, in terms of what the increase would be for this year, positions were quite close as employers were willing to accept the unions’ latest proposal: increases of 3.5% in 2022, 2.5% in 2023 and 2% in 2024, but without any kind of armor.
The failure of salary negotiations will have consequences: the unions have already confirmed that they will tighten negotiations, which is expected to involve mobilizations. And so the CC OO repeated this Thursday: «If the business position is to continue to delay the negotiations, in a year in which it plays a fundamental role, so that the workers can cope with the rise in prices, the mobilization and the conflict will be inevitable.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
