The call of National Council of Private Enterprise (CONEP)to the businessmen of the country from which increase voluntarily the salaries to its employees encouraged to trade unionists convene the National Salary Committee. Rafael (Pepe) Abreugeneral secretary of the National Confederation of Trade Union Unity (CNUS) considered that it is necessary to take advantage of the position expressed by the body that collects the country’s companies.
Abreu said that it is the first time “In many years” that the national business community recognizes that a salary increase is necessary for the workers, so it is necessary to put the discussion of the salary increase on the table.
Factors such as external inflation and the global economic crisis caused by the war between Russia and Ukraine have triggered the prices of raw materials, as well as the production and processing costs of the products of the basic family basket that in the Dominican Republic it exceeds 24,000 pesos (for the first quintile), while the minimum wage is barely 21,000 pesos only in large companies.
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It is recalled that in July of last year President Abinader announced a general increase for the private sector after an agreement that could be reached after several years of discussion. This agreement allowed salaries to be placed at RD$19,250.00 for medium-sized companies, RD$12,900.00 for small companies and RD$11,900.00 for micro-enterprises.
So far, CONEP has only invited employers who consider it prudent to voluntarily increase their employees’ wages to the extent they deem necessary, but has not called for a discussion on the issue between the Government, trade unionists and the private sector as is customary in these cases.
There is also no official proposal of the percentage increase that employees could receive or when the dialogues between the three sectors will begin to reach an agreement on the subject.
