This is unusual, in fact it is the least common, but this time trade unions and employers’ organizations agree: an increase in the minimum wage must entail review of government contracts. And if in other cases this request was made – yes, but only with the aim of recording it in the protocol, even if it is later blown away, now it can become a thorn in the side of the Government. So much so that it will make the difference between a new SMI with and without a tripartite agreement.

The cards are already on the table, and now the government must decide what to do with them. The CEOE business organization insists that the CEO change his policies once and for all.laws approved by Mariano Rajoybecause it guarantees that thousands of businesses will operate at a loss to the administration if the lowest wages are again increased by law without changing the price stipulated in the contract, as is expected to happen in January. For their part, the unions believe that the request “makes perfect sense”, although they do not condition their agreement on a change in the government’s position, as employers practically do.

It would not make sense to increase the SMI at the expense of public administration.”

Maria Jesus Montero, Minister of Finance

“It would be unwise for the increase in SMI to be carried out at the expense of public administrations,” the fourth vice president and finance minister lashed out. Maria Jesus Montero, who has authority in this matter. According to the policy, a change in this sense “will come at the expense of the income of the Spanish people,” which is reason enough to abandon the idea entirely. No matter what the Minister of Labor asks, Yolanda Diaz, What promised social agents to put pressure everything possible to renew government contracts with an increase in the minimum wage, which seems fair.

The problem arises from two laws approved by Rajoy’s government at the height of the financial crisis: Law on deindexation of the economy And Law of government contracts, which prevent the transfer of legally approved wage premiums to public tender contracts. This is a melon that has already been tried to be opened on other occasions when Yolanda Diaz opened negotiations to increase the SMI, and in particular it was already discussed in January last year when the average inflation for 2022 remained at 8.5%, the highest since 80s.

Compliance with the collective agreement

The requirements of social agents in this case are not only routine in nature. V agreement on employment and collective bargaining (AENC), signed by UGT, CC OO, CEOE and Cepyme in May, included a clause in which together they asked to change the above rules at least allow price revisions for government contracts. And now, eight years later, they can only defend what was agreed and signed.

“The signatories of the Confederation call on the government to change the rules on price revisions in contracting processes, resulting from Law 9/2017, of 8 November, on public sector contracts, in order to eliminate the inability to perform a review prices or, at least, allow their revision in the event of changes in regulations, collective agreements or circumstances that could not be foreseen at the time of the tender, implying an increase in labor costs,” the parties’ agreement states.

“We have a serious problem in workers’ collective bargaining.”

It may seem that this issue is of little importance to trade union organizations, but this is not the case. “This is a problem, especially for subcontractors. which are labour-intensive, such as in the cleaning, dependent care and home care sectors. If contract specifications, for example 2024 to 2028, are issued in 2023 when the SMI for subsequent years is unknown, revisions are not permitted. What happens is that raising SMI is a right, but companies sometimes can’t do it, and sometimes they have the perfect excuse… so if they have agreements, they waive them and don’t enforce them, and if they don’t, sometimes they don’t can fulfill them. wages, and it’s time to sue him,” explains Raúl Olmos, an employee of the secretariat of trade union activities and employment of the workers’ commissions.

How much is it?

According to CEOE, the government has room to renew government contracts, at least given the new SMI increase, which will be around 3%. Organization-managed and published table Vanguard, includes an increase in labor costs to approximately 350 million euros. And the costs will not be fully borne by the executive, since 302 million will be borne by the autonomous communities and city councils, and the remaining 57 million by the central administration.

The unions are finding it very difficult to ascertain the specific cost of this measure and they are also hiding behind the fact that they do not believe that management is the one who should bear the cost of any increase in wage costs as it could lead to a perverse spiral. Instead, they understand that ideally Demand that salary increases be included in the tender price future costs, and that the Administration is obliged to exclude proposals that do not establish this forecast or cannot cover these costs. Many institutes and analysis companies constantly release inflation forecasts for the coming years, which can be used as reference material.

Other indicators that could be taken into account would be progress in employment, increases in contributions and the CPI plus a certain percentage in case it deviates from what is expected. “What is unacceptable is that the review is banned because, at the end of the day, the heathens are the workers,” complains a CCOO union member.