Jared Laurels
Newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, November 17, 2022, p. 13
A general 25 percent increase in minimum and professional wages by 2023 called for the representation of workers before the National Commission for Minimum Wages (Conasami).
José Luis Carazo, spokesman for the labor sector, pointed out that the approach, which also implies an increase in the free zone of the northern border, is consistent because inflation is estimated at 8.6 percent at the end of 2022, so –he assured– the purpose is to maintain the rate of recovery of the purchasing power of workers.
The request submitted to CONASAMI, headed by Luis Felipe Munguía, and to the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS), proposes an increase higher than the offer of the business sector, of 15 percent, which has not yet been made official.
It should be remembered that in the 2020 salary negotiation, the country’s private initiative rejected an increase in that proportion, since, they assured, it would cause the closure of companies and loss of jobs. For 2021 his proposal for a minimum increase was limited to 10 percent overall.
The current minimum wage is 172.87 pesos a day in most of the country, which implied an increase of 22 percent compared to that granted in 2021. In the free zone of the northern border it amounts to 260.34 pesos a day.
Said increase, in force since January 2022, also had a positive impact on the professional minimum wages of the list made up of 61 activities, trades and special jobs.
In the document delivered to both instances, the representatives of different unions emphasized that it is necessary not to leave professional minimum wages behind, because, they maintained, otherwise a discriminatory treatment
and it is unfair that the general minimum has been increased by up to 67.3 percent more than for professionals.
Anytime we can sit down to talk and negotiate an agreement
, Carazo indicated when referring to the Conasami Council of Representatives, made up with the participation of representatives of workers, businessmen and the government, responsible for setting the minimum wages in accordance with the Constitution. The deadline to set the new minimum wage amount is December 31.
