The average salary increase agreed in the collective agreement until November was 3.49%Although this increase was one point below the core inflation rate of 4.5% in the eleventh month of the year, it was an increase above inflation, which slowed to 3.2% in November.
According to the collective agreement statistics updated by the Ministry of Labor this Thursday, this increase It exceeded November last year by 8 percent2.69% and three hundredths of what it was a month ago.
However, the wage increase in the contract is below the average inflation rate of 3.8 percent over the last twelve months and the 4 percent set as the general recommendation of the collective bargaining agreement (AENC) signed between employers and unions.
Fifth AENC sets 4% salary increase for 2023Although it creates a guarantee clause that if the annual inflation rate for December exceeds 4%, they will increase by an additional 1%, with the nuance that the specific conditions of each sector must be taken into account.
Salary increase was higher in November 3.5% in sectoral agreementsHE 3.25% in companies.
Company agreements affect more than 600,000 workers, and sectoral agreements affect approximately 10 million workers.
Agreements signed this year for 2023, although average salary increases are below what was agreed at the fifth AENC They include a salary increase of over 4 percentWhile the agreements signed in previous years and valid from 2023 included a lower salary increase of 3.16 percent, there is an increase of 4.14 percent.
In other words, the employment and collective bargaining agreement signed between unions and employers serves as a guide for the contracts negotiated this year.
Agriculture leads in wage increase
The biggest increase by sector is agriculture, with 3.96%; This is followed by services with 3.63%; industry with 3.14%; and construction took place at 3.08%.
In total, the data corresponds to 3,385 collective agreements with known economic effects, registered in more than one million companies by November. Affects 10.5 million workers.
Regarding the wage guarantee clause, data for November show that more than 2.5 million of the more than 10.5 million workers covered by the agreement have these mechanisms.
The salary guarantee clause allows the salary to be revised upwards every year according to the consumer price index (CPI) in order to maintain purchasing power.
According to the agreements, 501 out of 3,385 registered persons have this salary guarantee clause: 336 with retroactive effects and 165 without these effects.
SMI linked to increases in collective agreements
The evolution of wages in collective bargaining is one of the parameters that the Ministry of Labor believes should be taken into account in the annual revaluation of the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) when it reaches 60% of the national average wage.
At a briefing this week, Labor argued that SMI should be increased every year by the same rate as agreement wages to maintain this relationship with the average wage.
However, this is not the only variable considered in negotiations with social actors to determine the SMI increase for 2024, as the Government also Protecting the purchasing power of minimum wage workers.
With these two issues in mind, Labor sees scope for a deal with employers and unions and will meet with them again next Monday, but the positions are still far apart: employers are offering 3%, unions are refusing to go below 5%. .%.