The UGT trade union has called for pay rises to address the increasing difficulty of home ownership in the country. The union said that house prices and mortgage costs should be one of the factors taken into account when negotiating wage increases. A UGT report recently estimated that wages in certain sectors and regions would need to double if mortgage payments are to remain below 40% of salary (Spain’s Housing law recommends 30%). The union claims that, even at 40%, house prices are such that the average worker will spend 52 years paying off a mortgage. Even if a young person starts work at age 18, they won’t finish paying until they’re 70.
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For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.