Gustavo Petro’s company-Comercio / Government relationship It has not been the strongest ties during the period of the current president and The minimum wage discussion for 2026 is already erected as the new scenario of ‘Discordia’ between both parties. The reason?
And it is that for Jaime Alberto Cabal, president of Fenalco, if there is a “Excessive and irresponsible increase in the minimum wage” by 2026, it could have serious consequences, both in prices and employmentcoupled with the implementation of the labor reform that – in addition – qualifies as “disastrous and inoportuna.”
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Expressing his discomfort, Cabal said at the beginning of this month that inflation “He rose again for the fourth time at the run of the year, for the second consecutive month, and It was 5.10% in August, with a monthly increase of 0.19%, well above the goal of the Bank of the Republic. The items that hit the most were food (+0.45%), restaurants and hotels (+0.49%) and health (+0.46%). Families feel how their salary yields less and less. Inflation silently appropriates household revenues, reducing their purchasing capacity and well -being of families“
Likewise, the union leader indicated that LLS technical criteria and the responsibility in state decisions have been replaced by “an irresponsible and counter -evident populism, which despises technical knowledge and prefers demagogy to the real well -being of Colombians.” In addition, he pointed out that “Bad economic policy decisions become poverty. The country endures more improvisations, more incoherent statements, or more smoke curtains to hide the economic disaster they want to drive“
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For his part, the Minister of Labor, Antonio Sanguino, answered the president of Fenalco, and described him as “Panfletary“In addition, he cited the most recent report of the DANE (July 2025), in commerce, the number of busy grew by 92,000, located in four million 62,000 workers and since August 2024, this sector has been growing the number of employed.
The proportion of informality between the May-Jul quarters of 2025 and 2024, was reduced 2.3 pp; It went from 58.3% to 56%. In relation to GDP, in the II quarter of 2025, Commerce grew 5.6%, was the second sector that grew most, representing 17.33% of GDP, Sanguino said.
Next year more taxes will come.
In the same way, the head of the labor portfolio assured that it is proven that the increase in the minimum wage “In 37% accumulated so far from our government and public spending, they have been jalonators of economic growth and trade in Colombia, It is proven what in Keynesian economic theory is known as the consumption multiplier“
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In recent statements, the Montrabajo invited the guilds and, punctually, to full to “They do not fear discussion with workers and the government. The increase in the minimum wage cannot be defined in fear, but with technical and social justice arguments”
Fenalco will not be at the Concertación Table
And it is noteworthy that, on the other hand, the president of Fenalco said that he will not participate in the Concertación Table to reach an agreement and set the minimum wage by 2026, since he indicated that the same government is the one who has not taken into account that table, when speaking of a possible decree: “When a president says that he will take it by decree, he is taking the table from the agreement of the discussion. And the results can be bad for the government, but finally it is not the constitutional table that is being respected”
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Given these statements of Cabal, Sanguino kept anything and in Caracol Radio said that this position is ‘cowardly’. “Salary increase strengthens domestic demand, improves household consumption and ends also benefiting entrepreneurs, especially trade and shopkeepers”He said.
Thus, the head of that portfolio extended an invitation to the union leader to participate in this discussion: “The minimum wage is a right of workers and a topic that impacts the entire national economy. It is not about whims or fears, but about building a fair and responsible agreement”
Valentina Delgadillo Abello
Portfolio journalist
