this cheapening of light and fuels from the peaks they reached at the beginning of summer. moderated Prices went up last September, but the numbers keep changing. far from agreed wage increases in deals that turn into a significant loss of purchasing power for most households.
Thus, in the case of the province Alicante CPI closed September with an annual increase 9.2%According to data published by INE this Friday. The good news is that they are two points less than the figure recorded in July, when inflation reached 11.2% year-on-year. But the bad news is that once again prices are rising more in Alicante than in the rest of the country. at national level increase in September 8.9% per annum. It has been going on since the beginning of last year.
Among the sections that justify this difference, we can highlight, for example: increasing shoe pricesIncreasing on average 12.4% in Alicante compared to 4.4% nationally; increase in hotel pricesWhile it was 18.7% throughout the country, it reached 20.3% in the province at the inter-annual rate; or fuelsDespite the decline during the summer months, the province’s suppliers still paid 13.6% more expensive than a year ago, while in the rest of Spain the increase was reduced to 11.5%.
However, perhaps the most striking thing at the moment, rising food pricesRepresenting the highest increase in comparable historical series recorded by the INE since 1994, already reaching 14.7% per year in the entire country. In the case of Alicante, where is the increase 15.5%, so eight tenths more. According to calculations made by the Consumers and Users Organization (OCU), these additional fees will be mandatory. an average family to spend 820 Euros more per year food nationwide.
Among the few products and services that are cheaper in the province of Alicante, electricity billwhich is “only” 23.6% more expensive than a year ago, while the national average is 28%.
Fees
Despite the moderation in September, the reality is that the rise in prices has been well above wage increases. In this way, 73 registered agreements so far this year in average increase of only 3.3% For the 151,768 workers covered by these contracts. In other words, the increase in their salaries covers only one third of the increase in the cost of living. If we take into account that the average income declared by Alicante employees is around 16,900 euro per year, this means: they lost about 1,000 euros of purchasing power.
These are the lucky ones, because a significant portion of the rural workers whose contracts are not renewed also have their salaries frozen.
However, it should be noted that the increase in Alicante was above the country average of 2.61% in the same period.
It is a situation that the unions have condemned for months and that directly appeals to employers. “unlock” negotiations and, as insisted by the Secretary-General, allows the CPI’s impact on family budgets to be reduced. UGT At l’Alacantí and Marina, yassel sanchezConsidering it necessary for the CEOE to return to the table and sign a national level framework agreement that serves as a guide for the rest . In this sense, Sánchez reminds us that there are already many sectors in the state. “salaries are particularly low”therefore, they suffer more from the consequences of the loss of purchasing power from inflation.
from the employer CEV Alicante, however, they see it differently. “There is an exorbitant increase in the prices of raw materials, energy, fuel, which the company cannot transfer to the price of what it produces or produces. stifling the company’s ability to raise wages“, reassures its president, ilicitano Joaquin Perez. The employer’s representative also denies that any deals have been blocked. “Businessmen negotiate very flexibly and raise salaries, but these increases cannot jeopardize the viability of companies. Shoes, for example, offer increases even higher than those set for civil servants,” says the CEV president.
Only 24.5% of workers have a review article
Only 24.5% of workers covered by agreements signed across Spain this year have a salary review clause that guarantees their purchasing power if prices rise more than agreed. Of course, the percentages differ significantly from one industry to the next. In industry, protected workers are nearly half absent, in construction they are almost nonexistent. In addition, in half of the cases, this clause is not applied retrospectively.