One week before May 1, the date on which a salary increase is traditionally decreed on the occasion of Labor Day, representatives of private companies, union organizations, and the State are discussing a mechanism to set a viable amount for the minimum wage
The entire country was left awake waiting for the administration of Nicolás Maduro to announce an increase in the minimum wage after the vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, stated on January 14 that a decision on the matter would be announced in “a few hours.”
Since that promise, addressed to the entire country in a march of educators —one of the sectors of the labor market hardest hit by the wage situation— organized by Chavismo, 100 days have elapsed, a total of 2,400 hours that are far from the “few” guaranteed by the Executive.
The Government has maintained an almost sepulchral silence since Rodríguez’s comment. The only occasions on which Maduro has touched on the subject have been to justify the absence of an increase, hiding behind the scarcity of resources managed by the State and blaming the sanctions implemented by the United States on the Chavista leadership and the Venezuelan oil industry. .
Three days after the “few hours” appeared by the vice president, Maduro stated that he would make an effort to defend the entry of Venezuelans, and that he would “give birth” to the resources, but in three months there has been no action beyond the delivery of non-salaryized bonuses through the Patria System.
«We will defend the income in a thousand ways. Giving birth to resources? We will give birth. Producing? we will produce Sooner rather than later we will pass from this phase of labor and resistance to a phase of sustained, sustainable improvement, of the integral income of the working class and the workers”, he said during the closing act of the IV congress of the working classon January 17.
bonus point salary
Instead of decreeing a salary increase, Chavismo grants around 20 monthly bonuses through the Patria System. A handful of these allocations have a set frequency, but others are at the government’s discretion, as are the amounts, which vary each month.
*Also read: The Government distributes bonuses of $210 to special payroll and that of families is $4
Through the Telegram channel “Canal Patria Digital”, a mechanism used by Chavismo to announce the delivery of bonuses, the minimum wage is defined —regardless of what is legal— as the sum of the legal salary of 130 bolivars, the bonus of food of Bs 45 and the economic war bond, which varies each month and whose last value was Bs 770.
In other words, Without any decree, the Government grants a minimum wage of Bs 945 (38.35 dollars according to the BCV exchange rate). to all public administration workers, with the possibility of receiving more payments for other concepts depending on whether the person meets a certain number of requirements, such as having completed the census of the homeland system, having children with scholarships or participating in a government movement such as Chamba Juvenil or We are Venezuela.
With this mechanism, the “worker” government of Maduro resorts to a method detested and denounced by the workers: the salary bonus. The legal minimum represents only 14% of the total remuneration received in the month. In other words, 86% of the monthly salary of public administration workers does not generate labor liabilities, saving costs to the State.
One of the demands that arose from the union organizations is to pay the bonuses, a promise that Maduro made at the time of decreeing the last salary increase, in March 2022. However, the workers are not clear about their financial statements and therefore do not know how they should be the calculation of labor liabilities such as vacations or any premium that their contracts contemplate.
Discussing the salary increase
A week after May 1, the date on which salary increases are traditionally decreed, expectations are centered around the new increase. Except for the previous year, the adjustment was made in March.
In contrast to the last two decades, in which Chavismo defined the salary at its discretion, now the decision will be made under the supervision of the International Labor Organization (ILO), present in the country to mediate the Social Dialogue Forum.
Representatives of private companies such as Fedecámaras and Fedeindustria, trade union organizations and State authorities meet to discuss the main problems in the Venezuelan labor field. Specifically, the objective is to make Venezuela comply with the agreements 26, 87 and 144which address wages, freedom of association and tripartite dialogue, respectively.
The priority of the Social Dialogue Forum is the salary, so the discussions have focused on its adjustment. In this instance, the representatives of each sector meet in technical tables with the purpose of determine a mechanism that allows defining a viable amount for the minimum wageevaluating technical and financial aspects of the country.
Different actors who have participated in these conversations have assured that they hope to have an answer for this mechanism by April 30 as the deadline. According to a source consulted by SuchWhichThese conversations continue in the last week of April, so no indicator for the salary increase has yet been defined.
* Also read: Roig shows a salary increase in a “few weeks” with Labor Day on the sidelines
Regardless of the agreement reached in the Social Dialogue Forum, the final decision on the increase rests solely with the Executiveaccording to what the Constitution dictates, so that even by developing a mechanism and recommending an amount, Chavismo will have the last word when it comes to defining the salary increase.
The truth is that, unlike the moment in which Delcy Rodríguez made her promise, now it does seem to be “a few hours” that are left to know the new minimum wage that will govern the country, an imperative need for a population with a power purchasing power destroyed and victim of the constant devaluation of the bolivar.
Post Views: 156
