The full session of the Catalan Parliament has agreed to process a proposal from Junts that sets a Catalan minimum reference wage of around €1,400. The initiative now goes to committee.
The full session of the Catalan Parliament has agreed to process a bill from Junts that establishes a Catalan minimum reference wage. According to Infobae, the law would be applied through collective bargaining in the private sector and would have a direct effect on the Catalan Administration.
The proposal sets the minimum reference wage at around €1,400 and the vote passed with the support of all groups, except for PP and Vox, who had submitted amendments to the entirety. PSC and Comuns withdrew their amendments before the vote. The text will now be studied in parliamentary committee.
Junts deputy Joan Canadell argued that Catalonia needs a wage higher than that of other communities due to its higher cost of living:
“We cannot have the same salary in Extremadura as in Catalonia, because we all know that one cannot live in Catalonia on €1,221 a month.”
The law proposes a national agreement to raise the minimum wage. However, the authority to set mandatory increases is state-level, meaning the Catalan Parliament cannot decide it alone. Additionally, the proposal stipulates that in public contracts, it will be considered a criterion for awarding that companies pay this wage to their employees.
PP deputy Míriam Casanova believes that Catalonia needs to improve absenteeism and the conditions of public concessions, rather than a showcase wage. From Vox, deputy Javier Ramírez maintains that the authority belongs to the central Government according to the Constitution and the Workers' Statute.
Despite voting in favour of the processing, republican Jordi Albert calls for more legal certainty and warns that the proposal is not mandatory. In his opinion, during the processing, the law will need to be modified in depth so that it is not the Generalitat that assumes the increases through the aid planned for affected companies. Comuns deputy Lluís Mijoler agrees that the law does not create a general right for all workers and asks Junts to withdraw it to negotiate another between the Catalan Government and the unions.
Socialist Conchi Jiménez points out that the wage would only be a reference for the private sector, while in municipalities it would depend on each council, and calls for it to be worked on together with the unions. The next step is the debate in committee, where the text could change before its approval.
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