The CC OO union advocates for an increase in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) in 2027 of more than 5%, above the latest interannual inflation data (4.3%). The general secretary of the union, Unai Sordo, made this approach this Monday in a speech at the Ateneo de Madrid, where he also stressed the importance of the Government fulfilling its promise to change the rules for absorbing salary bonuses, so that employers cannot compensate for the rise in the SMI with the elimination of supplements. In that intervention, Sordo also responded to speculation about his possible departure to lead the left-wing parties in the general elections, indicating that he intends to complete his term as general secretary of CC OO.
Sordo began by clarifying that they have not yet agreed on a common position with UGT regarding which increase in the minimum wage would be the most appropriate, but he highlighted that this number “has to maintain” the remuneration floor “at 60% of the average salary.” This is one of the precepts that has been conditioning the calculation of the commission of experts that advises the Ministry of Labor, that the minimum wage not only rise to compensate for inflation, but that it does so with sufficient force so that it represents 60% of the average salary in the country. “Salaries are going to rise in the coming years above 4% or 5%, so the SMI must rise above those levels,” Sordo indicated.
Agreement salaries grew by an average of 3% until July, but the union leader is asking for a greater increase because salary statistics show a higher average increase in salaries. This, according to the unionist and different specialists have been pointing out, is due to a composition effect by which some sectors with better salaries are gaining weight in the Spanish economy, and at the same time the shortage of labor in some branches of activity encourages some wage increases that are not always reflected in collective agreements. The Quarterly Labor Cost Survey recorded an interannual increase in salaries of 4.9% in the first quarter.
“I'm not going to give a specific figure that I'll eat with potatoes later, but we're going to be ambitious,” added Sordo. In their proposal to renew the Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC, the text that gives guidelines to agreement negotiators), UGT and the union led by Sordo propose that salaries rise at least 4% annually from 2026 to 2028, but more strongly in the lowest paid sectors, where they propose reaching 7%. The unions had requested that the SMI rise again this year, given the increase in inflation, but the Government has closed this possibility and has urged the price increase to be taken into account in the 2027 increase.
Likewise, Sordo has stressed that, whatever the figure proposed by the Government, his union will not sign an agreement if it is not preceded by a change in the rules for compensation and absorption of bonuses so that companies cannot eliminate these remuneration items when the SMI rises. The Government promised that it would change this precept by decree, a recurring promise that was sealed once again in the last agreement to raise the SMI in 2026. However, although it has already gone through the prior hearing process, the measure has not yet reached the Official State Gazette. Asked about this last week, the Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, said that they are waiting for reports from other ministries and that they will then send it to the Council of State, which greatly narrows the deadlines for it to become a reality before 2027.
Another measure that the Government has promised to comply with and that has still not been formally crystallized is the reinforcement of the time record, Work Plan B to compensate for the failure of the reduction of working hours in Parliament. Yolanda Díaz's department and the Ministry of Economy announced in July that they were committed to approving it during the month of September, later than the unions requested. Both UGT and CC OO said that if they did not do so before August they would not sign any more agreements with the Government, a position that Sordo recalled this Monday. "There are no more excuses. This debate has me amazed. We know that there is water behind the Moon and when you propose that it be digitally recorded when people enter and leave work it seems that you are asking for something impossible," said Sordo.
The head of CC OO has also responded, once again, to the hypotheses that place him as a possible candidate for left-wing parties in a general election. "I say what I have always said and I am going to say little more. A year and two months ago I began my last term [at the head of CC OO] and my commitment is to fulfill this third term, of which there is a lot of time left. My will is to fulfill it," Sordo indicated.
