The demonstrators, 25,000 in number according to the authorities, denounced the erosion of their purchasing power. Inflation reached 7.3 % over a year in October.
Le Monde with AFP
Thousands of people paraded on Thursday, November 3, in Madrid at the call of the two main workers’ unions to claim wage increases against inflation, threatening to continue the mobilization for lack of agreement with the employers.
The demonstrators – 25,000, according to the government delegation (the equivalent of a prefecture) in Madrid – had responded to the appeal of the workers’ commissions (CCOO) and the General Union of Workers (UGT). They gathered in several places in the capital before converging towards the Plaza Mayor, in the heart of the city, behind a large banner on which was written: “salary or conflict”.
Employees have “come from all over Spain with a very clear slogan: either there is an increase in wages or conflicts in the world of work will increase exponentially in our country throughout the year Next, “said Unai Sordo, secretary general of CCOO. A message relayed by the UGT manager, Pepe Alvarez, who called on employers to guarantee the maintenance of the “purchasing power” of the employees. “Wealth” must be better “distributed” and that it “does not remain in the hands of a few”, he launched.
inflation reached 7.3 % over one year in October 2>
The demonstrators denounced the erosion of their purchasing power, inflation having reached 7.3 % over a year in October. This is a net level decreases compared to the peak of July (10.8 %) but still very high, due to an outbreak of energy and food prices. “Salaries are still super low”, while the prices of essential products have jumped, deplores Maria Luisa Ortega, employee of the services sector. For this 57 -year -old woman, it is necessary “to align wages with inflation”.
This demonstration occurs while the Spanish government is negotiating with employee unions and employer organizations a new increase in the minimum wage (SMI), currently 1,000 euros gross per month over fourteen months. The Radical Left Party Podemos, an ally of the Socialist Party of Pedro Sanchez within the power coalition, campaigned for a strong revaluation of this minimum wage, of the order of 10 %, to take into account inflation. An increase in which employers are opposed, which says it is worried about the cash flow of businesses.
The government of Mr. Sanchez undertook to bring the minimum wage to 60 % of the average salary by the end of the legislature, in December 2023, in order to raise the minimum Spanish wage at that of that of its European neighbors.