Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy plans to freeze the minimum wage in 2012 at his second Cabinet meeting on Dec. 30, according to Comisiones Obreras, or CCOO, one of the country’s two largest labor unions.

CCOO was informed of the decision in a letter from the Labor Ministry received today, Ramon Gorriz, a national-level secretary of the Madrid-based union, said by telephone.

“Penalizing consumption is not going to help us exit the crisis,” Gorriz said.

The minimum wage in Spain is currently 641.40 euros a month or 21.38 euros a day. Last year, Spain’s Socialists, beaten by Rajoy’s People’s Party in a national election on Nov. 20, increased the minimum wage by 1.3 percent.

A spokeswoman for the Labor Ministry, who declined to be identified in line with government policy, declined to comment.