An agreement on the Minimum Interprofessional Wage between the Spanish Government, the business associations CEOE and Cepyme and UGT and CCOO was signed in Bilbao on 26 December last: In 2018 it will increase by 4%, in 2019 by 5% and in 2020 by 10%. All this to EUR 707, so in three years' time it would reach EUR 850.

With the photo of Madrid they wanted to show an image of unity and consensus, when the concern for job insecurity is increasing: “The improvements in the general conditions of the economy to set the rise have been taken into account,” the Spanish Government explained in approving the royal decree. For his part, CCOO Secretary General of Spain, Unai Sordo, has stated that the agreement will serve as an "incentive" to achieve wage increases in collective bargaining. But the clauses added at the last minute and the small print have once again shown that economic powers are trapped in the brow.

The Interprofessional Minimum Wage is an important reference, not only for the setting of agreed wages, but also for ensuring basic incomes for citizens. In Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, for example, the Income Guarantee Income (IGR) is subject to the minimum wage and should be applied theoretically on the basis of that increase – in practice, however, the IGR has regressed from 88% to 75% in ten years.

In the Spanish State, another index has been used for years to measure social aid: IPREM. This index is frozen and the agreement of 26 December does not imply an increase in it. Thus, the gap between the minimum wage and recipients of social aid is growing as much as the risk of a part of the population falling into social exclusion.

The strongest criticisms have been received by two parts of the small letter of the agreement, the Foral Council of Bizkaia. On the one hand, the increase will not affect part-time workers, who perform the largest number of unpaid overtime, and the self-employed, even if they are bogus self-employed engaged in a single undertaking. Nor will any increase be applied to collective agreements with reference to the minimum wage. So how many workers do we talk about? CEOE has recognized that 136,000 persons will be the direct beneficiaries of the agreement, which has been approved by the General Assembly.

Last European train wagon

However, there will be no increase in Social Security if there are not around 450,000 registered each year and Spanish GDP does not grow by more than 2.5%. The first condition seems to be easily overcome, as a result of the brutal precariousness of the labour market, which under current laws can make two or three precarious jobs worthy. The second is something else. It is almost certain that this year growth will be 2.5%, but in 2019 and 2020 it will not, according to the European Commission (EC) forecasts. And it is precisely in this last year that the highest minimum wage increase (10%) has been agreed.

But, above all, by the imposition of the conditions themselves, some critical economists have received their arms: “Simply, the increase in the minimum wage cannot be subject to economic growth. We talk about the rights of citizenship, democracy, dignity, the fight against poverty and social exclusion…”, explained the economist of Luen in the newspaper La Marea.

Despite the fact that this is the biggest increase in recent years, it is still insufficient, since in times of crisis twice the minimum wage has been increased. The European Social Charter states that the minimum wage should be 60% of the average wage. LAB calculated the data from Eurostat in 2014 and in Hego Euskal Herria it did not reach 31% – it would be the last in Europe; in the Spanish state it is 34.3% and in the French state it is 47.9%. The difference between the Northern Basque Country and the South, regardless of the price amount, is EUR 701 (see graph above).

ELA and LAB have strongly rejected the agreement. The first recalled that the government had already decided on the increase and called the social dialogue "falsehood", which is still open. LAB says the climb must be higher and “unconditionally”.

Faced with the massive precariousness that has occurred as a result of the last two labor reforms, such an agreement seems useless for a generalized increase in wages; however, it will serve to encourage the debate: according to a recent study published by the EADA business school in Barcelona, in 2017 workers saw their wages reduced by 0.27% in the Spanish State, while company management positions increased by 0.28% and intermediate managers by 2.72%.