ELA denounces that the minimum wage has lost three points of purchasing power in 2022

Feb 09, 2022

ELA denounces that the Inter-professional Minimum Wage is only going to rise by 3.6% in 2022, while last year’s inflation rate reached 6.5%. Therefore, the IMW is going to lose almost three points of purchasing power (specifically 2.9 points). The agreement reached by the Government, CCOO and UGT shows that it is imposing a salary devaluation policy and that social dialogue is a curb to the interests of the working class.

In this way, the amount of the IMW remains way below that of other countries in the European Union such as Germany, France or Belgium, which have minimum wages of above 1,600 euros per month (in twelve payments), compared to Spain’s 1,167 euros per month (also in twelve monthly payments).

ELA confirms that the social dialogue framework is a curb to the interests of the working class. The relevant increases in the IMW have been carried out separate from, and bypassing, social dialogue. The completely insufficient labour reform was justified by the need to reach an agreement with the employers. In this case, CCOO and UGT were ready to accompany the Government and the Minister Yolanda Díaz when imposing a loss of purchasing power for the workers who receive income or benefits that are IMW-indexed.

ELA is going to continue valuing the Government’s steps regardless of who endorses them and it confirms that, as occurred with the pensions or with the income from workers in the public sector, a salary devaluation policy is being imposed.

The propaganda says that the Government benefits the working classes. Their steps, however, go in completely the opposite direction.