MADRID (Reuters) – Unions representing retail workers in Spain, including Carrefour, IKEA and the El Corte Ingles chain, plan to demand wage increases of at least 18% to cushion the effects of runaway inflation .
The CCOO union, one of the largest in Spain, said it would seek, in addition to a minimum 18% increase over the next four years, contract clauses allowing revisions if the inflationary surge comes. to endure.
These demands must be presented during the next round of negotiations which will begin in January. Some 234,000 employees are affected.
Fasga, another union, is calling for an increase of almost 20% over four years.
“The inflationary environment is already generating a loss of purchasing power for workers which must be addressed and corrected in the next agreement,” CCOO said in a statement.
Anged, the trade association representing some of Spain’s biggest retailers, declined to comment on the statements as negotiations with unions have yet to begin.
Retailers, also under pressure from the Spanish government to keep prices low, said they were already making “an extraordinary effort” to avoid passing on rising costs to consumers.
The main Spanish supermarket chains, including Carrefour, Alcampo, Auchan, El Corte Inglés or Mercadona, have rejected a government proposal to temporarily freeze prices to mitigate the impact of inflation.
(Report Corina Pons, French version Augustin Turpin, edited by Sophie Louet)
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