After more than 100 days of assuming the Presidency of the Republic, Gustavo Petro spoke about various topics with RCN News in a controversial government for some and hopeful for others.
Although the period to cut accounts is very short, the head of state himself has gone to the board to respond openly to issues of public interest, such as the minimum wage, the EPS and subsidies for the elderly peasants, among others.
One of the hot topics, a few days before the end of 2022, is the minimum wage and to define the percentage, Petro assured that One must think above all about inflation.
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“The standard of living has more to do with inflation than with the minimum wage, because most workers in Colombia earn less than the minimum wage, That decree will not work with the majority of Colombians, 60%, but it would work if the price of meat, rice or coffee dropped, for example,” he said.
“There is another front that is electricity that is more complicated, because we inherited some strange contracts, they were clandestine and they have to do with the distribution of electrical energy in the Colombian Caribbean,” he added.
The head of state referred to two companies; one the led EPM and another of private companies of State contractors. with whom I want to speak because the way it was structured is going to damage the possibilities of development”.
In conclusion, for Petro the majority of Colombians are not salaried, so for the people who are below it would not work, but for those who are above the increase in the minimum wage works and for the large salaried workers in Colombia.
Also read: Government, employers and workers await inflation figures before the bid for the minimum wage
Finally, he was determined to de-index the increase in the minimum wage of the country’s large wage earnerswhich are generally in the State.
Thus, he referred to three key points; minimum wage, real wage and relative wage.
“We must handle three variables; minimum wage, real wage and relative wage, for me the latter is more important, because it is the percentage of wage earners including income below the minimum wage”, he concluded.
