Thousands of people are on the street to demand a wage increase in Spain

Thousands of people demonstrated in Madrid on Thursday, at the call of the country’s two main trade unions, to demand higher wages in the face of inflation, and threatened to continue mobilization if no agreement was reached with employers during ongoing negotiations.

And 25,000 protesters in Madrid answered the call of the two unions. They gathered in several places in the capital, before heading to the “Plaza Mayor” in the heart of Madrid, next to a large banner that read “Salary or Conflict”. The employees “came from all over Spain with a very clear slogan: Either raise wages, or conflicts in the world of work will increase dramatically for the next year in our country,” said Yonai Sordo, general secretary of the CCO union.

UGT leader Pepe Alvarez reiterated this message, calling on business owners to ensure that employees’ “purchasing power” is preserved.

He said that “wealth” should be “distributed” better and “not remain in the hands of a few.”

Demonstrators denounced the erosion of their purchasing power, while inflation reached 7.3 percent in one year in October.

The level of inflation decreased significantly compared to July (10.8 percent), but it is still very high, due to the rise in energy and food prices.

“Wages are still very low,” said Maria Luisa Ortega, a 57-year-old employee in the services sector, while prices of “essential” goods have risen. She stressed the importance of raising wages at the same rate as inflation.

The demonstration comes as the Spanish government is negotiating with employee unions and employers’ organizations to raise the minimum wage again, which currently stands at 1,000 euros per month, to be paid over 14 months.

The radical left-wing Podemos, an ally of Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist Party in the ruling coalition, is campaigning to raise the minimum wage by 10 percent to keep pace with inflation. Business owners oppose this increase.

Sanchez’s government pledged to raise the minimum wage to 60 percent of the average wage by the end of the legislature’s term in December 2023, with the aim of raising the minimum wage in Spain to the level of its European neighbors.