Díaz's number two defends the "maximum transparency" of the current system
Brussels proposes that employers and unions also set the criteria
The current law does not "shield" the independence of the group of experts
The Government will not modify the legislation that determines the way in which the variation of the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) is set, and that, ultimately, makes it a political decision that can be adopted even with the direct rejection of the employer and unions.
This discretion even affects the independence of the group of independent experts that meet these days, summoned by the Government, to determine the rise for next year.
A risk that has become clear after the episode carried out by the Ministry of Labor in connection with three reports on the effect of the revaluation. They were all financed with public money, although they have only been partially leaked to some media.
Two of them were aimed at counteracting a third that warns of the medium-term impact on employment of the increases. It so happens that the person responsible for this document is Sara de la Rica, a member of the expert committee.
In accumulated terms since 2017, Spain is already the second country that has increased this indicator the most in the EU and the Government has made it clear that it wants to follow this path in the coming year. Of course, in the preceding five years it had remained practically frozen.
Government's categorical refusal
The Secretary of State for Employment and Social Economy, Joaquín Pérez Rey, justifies the refusal to reform the Law that governs the SMI because it allows for both social dialogue and the "expertise" of the rest of the ministerial departments, although in the end the decision corresponds only to the latter.
"It does not require a reform of article 27 of the Workers' Statute," insists number two of Yolanda Díaz. This section establishes that the Government will decide on the minimum wage "after consulting with the most representative trade union organizations and business associations."
But this is not equivalent to a negotiation on a decision that, as the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court has recalled in recent years, is of a "political nature."
With this, the government on duty maintains the last word on the SMI, as has happened in the increases of 2021 and 2022, which went ahead only with a partial agreement with the unions. Something that, predictably, will be repeated in 2023.
In addition, it allows you to convert the SMI into a bargaining chip in your budget negotiations with other parties, as happened with the agreement between the PP and PSOE to raise it by 8% in 2017, and in 2019 when PSOE and Podemos agreed to raise it by 22.3%. Even if it is at the cost of ignoring previous agreements with the unions and employers.
Brussels wants to avoid arbitrariness
This arbitrariness is one of the situations that the European Minimum Wage Directive aspires to correct. Brussels requires guaranteeing the "effective participation" of the social partners in setting the legal minimum wage, in particular as regards the "definition of the criteria for setting and updating", variations and deductions, "participation in the advisory bodies' and 'contribution to data collection'. A much more active role than the one it maintains up to now.
Although the regulations promoted by the Community Executive do not ask for an agreement to raise the SMI, the criteria to establish an amount must be agreed upon by all. In addition, it must turn out to be transparent both for citizens and for the European Commission, which will request a report every two years on the criteria that justify the decisions and their impact.
"Maximum transparency" technique
Although the Government has two years to transpose the directive, it is clear that it will not touch article 27. Joaquín Pérez Rey defends the "maximum transparency" that is followed in Spain when determining the minimum wage. His argument is based precisely on the existence of the group of experts to decide with "objective" criteria a roadmap for raising the SMI. But this statement is questionable from the moment that there are no representatives of CEOE or Cepyme among them.
Yolanda Díaz's number two ensures that the diagnosis and the proposal resulting from these works will be integrated into the Government's arguments. Along with them will also appear, the leading reports of the controversy.
"The work of the commission will be part of the collection of analysis that we will take into consideration: it is a political but also a technical decision," said Pérez Rey. In his opinion, the combination of academic criteria, social dialogue and studies from the rest of the ministries is the key to the "success" of the SMI throughout this legislature.
But in practice, the Government does not have the obligation to listen to them if article 27 is not modified to force it to do so. According to the law, the Executive decides based on the CPI, productivity and the economic situation.
This allows the Government not only to ignore, but even to expel the experts who disagree with their positions from the Executive. All this without consequences, beyond giving the emphatic image that the evolution of the SMI in Spain is completely arbitrary.
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