Alex Trelinski
SPAIN’S government is looking for an ‘immediate’ increase in the minimum wage to protect workers from rises in inflation.
Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, made the pledge today(September 1) in Madrid during a wide-ranging speech.
The minimum wage in Spain is €950 per month and negotiations between the government, unions, and employers will ‘start today’.
The August inflation rate, boosted by record high electricity bills, leapt to 3.3% compared to a year earlier.
Speaking at a conference attended by government ministers, business leaders and trade unionists, Sanchez said: “There won’t be an economic recovery if it doesn’t reach all levels of society.”
Sanchez’s address praised the COVID-19 vaccination campaign which reached full immunisation for 70% of the population yesterday.
He said the vaccines were helping the economy to bounce back.
“We are going to recover to pre-pandemic levels in 2022. And it is true that it will be accompanied by a rise in prices, but our will is to continue with the stimuli,” Sanchez predicted.
The Prime Minister also commented on the ongoing controversy of high electricity prices.
He said the government was ‘continuing to act’ and that ‘all options’ would be investigated so long as they do not break European Union laws.
IVA rates on bills were cut from 21 to 10% in July to reduce the big rises for consumers.
