The Broad Front questions the government for loss of real wages and price increases, and points out that although the economy is growing, the same is not happening with the income of workers. Faced with this position, the Minister of Labor Pablo Mieres criticized FA and assured that it is a world phenomenon from which Uruguay does not escape.
“In the criticism made by the opposition, one sometimes thinks that the opposition believes that Uruguay lives inside a Tupperware container. It is as if we were oblivious to the world,” Mieres said in an interview on Monday on the Arriba Gente program on channel 10.
“You simply have to look at international information to find that the fall in purchasing power, in wages, is global, it fell in all parts of the world. Inflation is global. It is not that the government has decided to be inflationary, on the contrary, the government had the objective of lowering inflation and we found a world inflationary wave”, added the minister.
In this context, Mieres pointed out that “to give you an idea, in Spain, the socialist government, so far in (year) 22 there is a 5% drop in real wages, in Spain, and inflation close to 10% . And the United States has the highest inflation in 40 years.”
Regarding salary recovery, he stated that it is “a commitment” assumed by the government, which will be finalized at the end of the period: 2024-2025. In that sense, he recalled that public officials have a signed agreement on what the recovery will be like and in what terms. Meanwhile, in the private sector, the minister assured that 11% of workers lost more than 4% of salary. The rest lost less than 4% and a quarter of them lost less than 1%. A quarter did not lose wages, he added.
“You have to work on half of the workers who lost more than 1% and the sector that lost more than 4%. A quarter lost less than 1% and their recovery is easier. A quarter did not lose,” said Mieres.
The Ministry of Labor presents this Monday the wage recovery guidelines for sectors linked to tourism, which were the most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. That there are 30,000 workers, approximately, with a wage loss of around 10%.
The sectors affected in this area are hotels, transportation, gastronomy, travel agencies and accommodation in general. Also a part of the trade related to tourism, and sports clubs.
