Workers in small supermarkets and food businesses in the Community of Madrid who receive the minimum wage of 1,080 euros will, thanks to an agreement, see their wage bill retroactively increased by 5% in 2023, 4% in 2024 and 3% in 2025 this Thursday between employers and unions. The pact came after long, months-long negotiations and a strike called for four key holidays: December 23rd, 24th, 30th and 31st.
The agreement will benefit just over 50,000 employees, including those of chains such as Hiper Usera, La Sirena, Aldi or Froid, but also those of fruit shops, butchers and other local companies. According to employers, most large supermarket chains in Spain have their own agreements that improve the terms of industry agreements.
The unions (CCOO, UGT and Fetico) reached an agreement with the employers' associations (Aces, Asedas, La Única, Adepesca, Adefrutas and Asdhac) this afternoon after hours of negotiations at the Regional Institute of Mediation and Arbitration.
The head of the commercial and department store sector at UGT Madrid, Belén Fernández, reiterates that the strike (which the other unions did not support) brought about the agreement. “We are a service that has given 100% during the pandemic and companies had benefited from it without giving corresponding salary increases, but now they have finally seen the light of day,” says Fernández.
“The aim of the strike was not to lose purchasing power and with this salary increase we understand that one of our objectives has been achieved,” emphasized the UGT, which explained that it was “alone in the mediation to defend the rights of workers” be .” .
The general director of the employers' association La Única, Sara Mañas, was very satisfied with the agreement. “Pleasingly, this was closed without major consequences for consumers, which is the aim of food companies as they have demonstrated in recent years,” he said in a statement.
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The pact contains a salary review clause that allows salaries to rise by a further point in 2024 and 2025 if inflation is higher than the agreed increase.
UGT added that the parties had scheduled a new meeting for the second half of January to discuss other types of work improvements.
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