With support from the business sector the wage adjustment which will be effective starting january 2015.
The increase in salaries approved by the National Wages Council is less than the amount requested by workers in the private sector; the difference is 0.90%. Requests from the various workers representations ranged from 2.91% to 5.7%.
Edgar Morales, representative of the National Union of Workers, told Nacion.com that "...
The National Wages Council has approved the increase which will take effect from July 1 and will affect nearly 1.2 million private sector workers.
According to Zayda Solano, president of the National Wages Council the increase which corresponds to the adjustment for the second half of 2013, was adopted by the majority.
"The government made a proposal to respect what unions and employers had agreed.
The unions proposed to the National Wages Council an increase of 3.03%, plus an extra 20% over the next four years for minimorum minimum wages.
"This 3.03% corresponds to 2.47% for projected inflation and 0.56% for an outstanding debt. In addition, we propose that the minimorum minimum wage should be increased to 20% over four years until the percentage is reached, therefore in July there would be 8.03% for those workers, 3.03% of the normal rise 5% for the outstanding amount" said Edgar Morales, a member of the Union of Public and Private Sector (SITEPP).
Between the 2.47% proposed by employers and the 6% sought by union representatives, 5% has been settled on by the Central Bank as a starting point for inflation.
In the restart of negotiations between representatives from the employers, workers and the government over adjustments to private sector salaries in the second half of the year, workers have not gone with a single proposal.