The agreed rise will bring the country’s minimum wage from €655.20 up to €707.61 per month over a 14-month period, which the government says marks the biggest change for 30 years. The trade unions have criticised the agreement, reached without their involvement and which largely falls short of their demands, having called for €800 by 2017. The CCOO and the UGT unions say they will go ahead with mobilisation, to protest against the instability of jobs, as planned on 15 and 18 December. On the employers’ side, the CEOE confederation says the increase is too high.
In a joint statement, the CCOO and UGT described the minimum wage increase as “insufficient” in size, reiterating their demand for an €800 minimum wage by 2017. The wage demanded by the two unions equates to 60% of the average wage in 2010, which is the minimum requirement as stated in the European Social Charter. The CCOO and UGT were heavily critical of the process adopted by the government, which made no use of social dialogue to negotiate the minimum wage, bringing the issue into “the polit
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