The negotiations, which already failed last summer, will have to be extended for another month.
This week ends the term set in January by the CEOE to CC.OO. and UGT to sign the IV Agreement on Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC) for 2018 and 2019, which should include a wage increase of up to 3%.
However, the agreement is still "very far away". So much so that the CEOE will propose in the meeting that both parties will hold today to extend the negotiations for another month. The new term could end on April 24, since the employers' association celebrates its annual assembly the following day, which could be a good showcase to present the new agreement on employment and collective bargaining.
In the meetings held so far, he has flown over the recent failure of the employers and the unions, which last summer were unable to agree on the salary review corresponding to 2017.
On this occasion, the rise in wages is not exactly the main obstacle to reaching an agreement. The employers have offered increases of between 1.2 and 2%, plus another variable point according to the productive sectors and certain factors, such as the increase in productivity and the decrease in absenteeism. For their part, the unions have demanded an average increase in 3%, with greater increases for the lowest salaries. They also want the minimum salary in the agreements to be 1,000 euros. The CEOE also proposes that salary increases cannot be made in companies with losses.
Red lines
There is a question in this matter, the establishment of a salary review clause linked to inflation, which the unions are asking for and which for employers is a "red line". "We will never accept it, among other things, because it has become outdated," CEOE sources stress.
The "red lines of the unions" are that the lowest salaries in any sector must have higher than average increases and, in any case, always above inflation, which in 2018 will be 1.6%, according to the forecast of the government.
The president of the employers' association, Juan Rosell, affirmed last week that he "does not understand" that the unions "below" are agreeing to sectoral and company agreements and that those "higher up" do not want to agree to the IV Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC). He explained that the employers are offering UGT and CC.OO. a rise of up to 2% plus a variable, which depends on the situation of each company or sector, but both the organization led by Pepe Álvarez and Unai Sordo "do not take it".
In addition, he said that the agreements are currently being signed around 1.5% and that "he has no problem" with companies distributing benefits if they have them. "We will agree to raise wages, as long as the companies have benefits," he added.
Productivity
The employers have stated that the agreement should not be limited to a negotiation on salary bands, but that all issues related to productivity that it considers "essential" should also be agreed upon.
In this sense, CC.OO. has put on the table that salary increases have to respond to the productive reality of each sector or company, "and that is what is achieved with salary increases in line with productivity".
To do this, the unions ask the Executive branch to periodically send the joint commissions of the agreements the tax and Social Security information available for each area of negotiation.
It must be remembered that the previous Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining was signed in June 2015 and covered 2015, 2016 and 2017. The salary increase for the first year was up to 1% and 1.5% for the second. That of 2017 would depend on the evolution of GDP in 2016.
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