The Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business, Carlos Bodyhas taken stock in statements to RNE about the performance of the Spanish economy in 2024, addressing the various open fronts that the Government faces in terms of economic and labor measures for the new year. The approval of new General State Budgets, the increase in the interprofessional minimum wage or the effective implementation of the reduction of working hours are several of the issues to which the Body has referred.
Regarding the increase in the SMI, Corpus has declared that it should rise in 2025 “in line with what the rest of the economy is doing.” «There is a clear commitment on the part of the Government to continue adjusting, to continue raising the minimum interprofessional wage. We want it to continue in line with that average salary, with that 60% of the average salary«, recognized the ministerial official, in statements collected by ‘Europa Press’.
«We know that the average salary continues to grow. This is another consequence of the good macro figures, that salaries are rising. In fact, the latest estimates are that the average salary could have grown by around 4% in 2024. We must continue adjusting the minimum wage in line with what the rest of the economy is doing.”
Reduction of working hours
The minister has also discussed reducing the working day to 37.5 hours per week. It is important to remember that the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Diazalready signed this agreement with UGT and CC.OO., the country’s main unions, two weeks ago. However, this signing took place without support. Neither from the employers’ association, which was left out of the agreement, nor from politics, since deliberations in the Cortes to implement the measure are still pending.
The president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, At the beginning of November, it already rejected the Government’s latest proposal to implement the reduction of working hours. Even though compensatory measures for companies had been put on the table, in the form of direct aid, the employers did not give in.
As for the political mess, it has a lot to do with that of the employers. PNV and Togetherregular partners of the Government and capital to achieve the measure, hoped to join the proposal to reduce working hours once they had the approval of the employers. The expected domino effect Government It did not manage to demolish the first piece, therefore tough negotiations are expected within parliament for the measure to come to fruition.
“Sometimes we don’t reach agreements, but we negotiate disagreements.” These are the words of Antonio Garamendi, who positively values the relationship between unions and employers to reach agreements in recent years. Even though the CEOE considers the matter “very important”, the situation is blocked, so the agreement between the Government and unions seems like a leap into the void in order for its partners to unblock the matter.
Bodyfor its part, has recognized that the reduction in working hours is a “joint commitment” of the Government, motivated by the productive evolution that the country has experienced since 1983, the year in which the 40-hour working day was approved. “The objective is to arrive as soon as possible,” declared the minister, referring to the political consensus necessary for the measure to become a reality.
According to the minister, to succeed in approving the measure it is necessary to take into account “two realities.” The first is reality parliamentarywhich refers to the political fragmentation reflected by the Cortes. The Government considers it vital to reach a political agreement with the parliamentary groups as soon as possible to finalize the measure, and the task may be complicated given the difficulty that the Government experiences in finding support among its partners.
The second reality is that of spanish economy. In this sense, Body insists that the agreement is not the same for an SME as for a large company. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the potential impacts of the measure for all recipients, in order for its legal coverage to be effective. «In the industrial sector we have to be aware of this economic reality and therefore help, accompany also to our companies so that we are all able to maintain something that we have been doing for the last six years now, which is to grow and do so at the same time by conquering rights. And now it’s time to conquer the right to reduce the working day,” he concluded. Body.
Discrepancies to reach a good port
When asked about his disagreements with the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, the minister has been elusive. “Each one is very aware of the position of the others in this area,” declared the minister, when asked about the criticism of Diaz towards his work in the reduction of the day.
«We want to move forward towards achieving this right for workers. This is a point and aside. And here we agree, the second vice president and I, without any doubt,” said the minister, who is committed to putting aside the differences with Díaz and working side by side to bring to a successful conclusion the issues that both of them they occupy them.
Yolanda Díaz, for her part, also had disagreements with Corp’s predecessor in the Ministry of Economy, Nadia Calviño, who currently serves as president of the European Investment Bank. When asked, Corpus stated that “the existence of complementary positions that allowed balanced texts to be reached in the last legislature is being part of the success,” valuing the mutual counterbalance that Calvino and Diaz they performed.
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