April 27, 2023, 4:00 AM
April 27, 2023, 4:00 AM
The Government of Bolivia reported last night that the increase in basic income for this year will be 3%, while that of the national minimum wage (SMN) will be 5%, but also raised a maximum of 65 years for the worker to remain active. This is when the Executive assumes the administration of the pension funds through the state Public Manager.
After a meeting between President Luis Arce and his ministers with executives from the Bolivian Workers Central (COB) -which lasted for more than five hours-, Arce said: “I want to announce to the Bolivian people that they have defined themselves in this meeting (. ..) two important agreements. The first has to do with the salary increase; of course retroactive from the month of January of this management for all workers,” he said.
Following the agreement reached with the COB, the country’s highest organization for workers, the minimum wage will go from Bs 2,250 to Bs 2,362 this yearthis parameter is used for the seniority bonus and the prenatal and lactation subsidy.
The workers’ leadership had requested 10% for both the basic salary and the minimum wage, despite the fact that inflation registered in 2022 closed at 3%.
The executive secretary of the COB, Juan Carlos Huarachi, pointed out that during the negotiations several issues were prioritized, among which were the salary increase and the solidarity limits in the Pension Law, for which his request was attended to in a timely manner. “We have technically and legally justified our request,” said the leader
Maximum age to work
President Luis Arce said that it was defined a maximum limit for the worker, a maximum limit of 65 years to work, then they should retire. He noted that a bill will be sent to the Plurinational Legislative Assembly for consideration to analyze this issue.
He also announced that, as a second measure, it was agreed to increase the maximum limit of the scale of the old age fund from Bs 5,000 to 6,000 for the mining sector and for the other sectors from Bs 4,200 to 5,200 for all workers with more than 35 years of contributions.
“The national and international reality has also been discussed and an agreement was reached to elaborate a bill that improves the solidarity fund of contributions and to guarantee a significant increase regardless of own contributions”, indicated Arce.
The president also maintained that an investment regulation must be approvedMeanwhile, the Public Manager will apply what has been established by law until now, until that regulation is approved.
The negotiation is made between the public sector and the workers who do not allow the intervention of businessmen and employers, despite being a recommendation of the International Labor Organization (ILO).
The day before, the president of the Chamber of Industry, Commerce,
Services and Tourism of Santa Cruz (Cainco), Jean Pierre Antelo, said that Instead of a salary increase, new jobs should be ‘given away’ on Labor Day.
The Chamber of Construction of Santa Cruz (Cadecocruz) also considers that, given the current scenario, a salary increase is unsustainable for the sector and for any economic activity that works within the framework of formality.
