| Daily News - Thursday, 04 November 2004 |
The National Council of Business (CONEP) has challenged the resolution drafted by the National Salaries Commission (CNS) that imposed a 30% increase on the minimum wage for private sector workers, and a 25% increase for those employees that earned above the minimum wage and less than RD$20,000 per month. CONEP's argument is that the resolution signed between the business sector and the unions and extends beyond the realm of CNS's authority. Nonetheless, CONEP has asked its membership to comply with the 25% increase in wages for those employees that earn between the minimum wage and RD$20,000, if they have not already done so. The agreement had established that the increase was not mandatory in the case of companies that had already augmented their employees' wages in that proportion.
The president of the Chamber of Deputies announced that the commission studying the issue of a general increase in salaries will compare its findings with those of the Senate commission and then make a decision. One of the CONEP arguments is that the CNS is only authorized to deal with minimum wage issues, according to the law. A further bone of contention is that the resolution approved last 26 October does not include the fifth article that stated "In the case of a salary increase ratified by Congress, this agreement (on the minimum wage increase) is thereby annulled."
In a letter from Elena Viyella de Paliza to the CNS, the CONEP spokesperson said that the commission has not redefined the parameters for small, medium and large enterprises needed to establish the minimum wage. Viyella pointed out that the resolution classified a medium-sized business as "any enterprise with RD$200,000 in capital," which "any small market or corner store has." Before forwarding the press release to El Caribe, Viyella assured the media that the business community would respect the agreement to raise the minimum wage by 30% for those earning more than RD$20,000 a month and 25% for those whose salary is above the minimum wage but less than RD$20,001 per month if these increases had not already taken place.
By challenging the CNS resolution, the mandate is technically put on hold and thus need not go into effect on 15 November as had been announced.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will visit the Dominican Republic this weekend to sign an energy agreement with Dominican chief executive Leonel Fernandez. The arrangement will guarantee a steady supply of oil for the cash-crunched DR. El Caribe newpaper says that Chavez will arrive at 6am on Saturday for an official visit of eight hours. After arriving at the San Isidro Air Base, the Venezuelan leader will go to the National Palace for breakfast with President Fernandez, after which the two will issue a joint communique to demonstrate their willingness to cooperate and bolster the relations between their two countries. The new Caracas Accord, scheduled to be signed at 9am Saturday, was originally drafted and signed in 2000 by ex-President Hipolito Mejia and Chavez. The Plaza Simon Bolivar is also to be inaugurated by Chavez during his stay. President Chavez, the first foreign head of state to visit the DR during this Fernandez administration, is making the visit of his own accord in order to show his respect for the Dominican people and to inaugurate Santo Domingo's Simon Bolivar Plaza. Tensions between the two nations had mounted during the Mejia governmnent when Chavez denounced the DR for allegedly harboring Venezuelan conspirators who were trying to overthrow his government. Diario Libre's front page this morning says that this visit and the current trip to Rio de Janeiro to participate in the Group of Rio Summit are strategies for President Fernandez to assume a role of diplomatic leadership and push for Dominican competitiveness in the hemisphere.
The Chamber of Deputies is trying to modify the Electoral Law in order for the political parties to receive money from the National Budget every year and not just during the election years, as was recently legislated. The proposed amendment, as reported by El Caribe, was approved after one reading yesterday, but will be subjected to further review in the Chamber. The idea is to get 80% of the resources assigned to the political parties distributed in equal parts among all parties having obtained at least 5% of the popular vote in the previous election. The remaining 20% of the funds would be distributed among other official parties with candidates approved for the next electoral cycle. In the proposal submitted by 27 PRSC deputies, the 20% is divided into two parts, with the bulk going to the political organizations that received less than 5% in the previous elections and the rest to newly-formed parties and political movements. One of the issues that prompted the legislators to draw up the new bill was the fact that each year the Central Electoral Board (JCE) determines, through internal deliberations, the amount that each party will receive in the coming year. For this reason, the PRSC deputies want define the split as part of the law.
The former head of ANJE (the Young Businesspersons Association), Marisol Vicens, says that ever since the sudden approval of the Primaries Law last 15, like other worried citizens, she has been awaiting the inevitable. Now, the Foundation for Law and Democracy, as headed by Julio Castanos, a former JCE judge, has brought a suit before the Supreme Court to test the constitutionality of this law. In spite of the fact that the political parties are directly affected by the law, which is a gross invasion into their internal workings, taking away their constitutional rights of free association and assembly as guaranteed by the Constitution in Article 8, Number 7, as well as violating their freedom to organize, granted under Article 104, none of the parties has done anything about it as of yet. Vicens, who called the new legislation "absurd and unconstitutional," says that, fortunately, the Foundation for Law and Democracy has overcome society's inertia in asking the Supreme Court to answer its questions on the constitutionality of various contradictions that they have discovered. Self-interest, according to Vicens, spurred the accelerated passage of the legislation that spawned the Primaries Law, which attempts to transfer certain powers to the JCE that many believe them incapable of handling correctly. Many political leaders did not participate in the hearings on the law and they now see it as a tool that could be used in their favor, believing, falsely, that this law will give them opportunities not offered by their party. This just goes to show, says Vicens, that our political leadership has little appreciation for legality.
Vicens continues to say that if legitimacy had been their concern, they would not have approved this law in the first place or they would have been up in arms about unconstitutionality and would have demanded it be repealed. Vicens says the perverse effects of the legislation are many and of a wide spectrum. Among other issues, she foresees its potential to cause the total collapse of the JCE, which has already shown some weaknesses in organizing elections and failure as an impartial judge on election issues, given the political bent of its members. Vicens sees the costs associated to party primaries as completely irrational, probably more than RD$1 billion, which does include the intangible costs to the general population that would be obliged to participate in four separate elections. Far from strengthening the system, she believes it would weaken the parties' internal structures and the JCE, too – especially since it would have to take on an unconstitutional workload. The Supreme Court now has the most important task of acting in a timely fashion with respect to this case, needing to ponder the Budget Law of 2005 that would consider huge funding for the JCE to support the absurd primaries. Vicens says that she hopes that the Supreme Court knows how to weigh the need for prompt action in this case and that it does not come to rest with the 175 cases pending their August decision.
The Citizen's group called Participacion Ciudadana in Spanish has asked the Minister of the Interior and the Police to explain to the people why he is interested in eliminating the different municipal police forces that are currently operating in some of the larger cities in the DR. An estimated 700 men make up the force nationwide.
The PC group also wants to know why the Minister is trying to recover heavy equipment from the municipalities, equipment that they have had since the Mejia Administration. The citizens group also warned the Interior Minister that his actions are contrary to the autonomous nature of the municipalities and might well generate political disturbances. Jose Ceballos was the spokesperson for the PC group. He pointed out that the municipal police forces are within the scope of the municipal governments because of their constitutional autonomy. Ceballos pointed that the situation is even more complicated and worrisome because the minister has also taken the decision to disarm the rural alcaldes pedaneos, authority figures in the Dominican countryside and liaison officers between the Police and the civilian government. Ceballos suggested that the minister, Franklin Almeyda Rancier, call a meeting of the Dominican Federation of Municipalities to converse about regulations for the municipal police forces.
The Dominican Medical College (CMD) has asked the Minister of Public Health to cease the firings of qualified doctors in the public health system. Yesterday they were notified of 25 more firings, bringing the total to 525. The CMD also pointed out that in the three plus months of the new government, the hospitals are in the same ruin that they were in the Mejia administration. That said, the doctor's organization said that they would strike at the 163 hospitals run by the Ministry of Public Health next Wednesday and Thursday. Waldo Ariel Suero, the president of the CMD, made the announcement as he came out of a meeting with Public Health Minister Sabino Baez, with whom he said he had met five times without getting any satisfaction. He warned that the national strike could only be stopped by President Leonel Fernandez partaking in a meaningful dialogue with the doctors. In his comments to the reporters from Hoy, Dr. Suero repeated the litany of complaints that have been in the papers for more than four months: fuel for generators, lack of equipment, lack of basic medical goods such as bandages and medicines.
The impact of Chinese textiles and products on the world market has placed the DR's industrial free zones in a race against the clock to meet the challenge of quota removal in 2005, as reported in El Caribe newspaper. This will open the doors of the United States market to any and every textile producer in the world, especially China. For the Dominican Republic, one of the principal regional suppliers to the United States marketplace, this means finding new sectors of the market that the Chinese cannot get into, as well as necessitating a vertical integration, which the Chinese already have. As reported here some time ago, the Dominican textile industry is already taking steps to preserve its market share. According to Arturo Peguero, the head of the Dominican Association of Free Zones (ADOZONA), for more than a year and a half the different companies that produce for the American market have been taking steps to diminish the impact of the Chinese competition in what used to be their "backyard." Part of the process of change has been to convert the factories from simple assembly lines of pre-cut materials into total production facilities turning out what is called the "full pack" in the industry. This includes the total work associated with the manufacture of a garment, from the sourcing of the cloth and various other components, to the assembly and finally to the finishing and presentation of a product that is ready to sell at the client's outlets. One of the major sticking points is that the parity agreements with the US oblige the Dominican manufacturers to use textiles and purchase thread from the United States. This flies in the face of the Chinese thread and cloth, considered to be of better quality and lower price then the American product. These issues comprise the vital subjects that must be addressed by local manufacturers and negotiators. As such, the Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) is the only road open for the manufacturing sector to survive, according to Peguero.
The El Caribe report also explains that the mix of type of manufacturing operations in the DR free zones has diversified in recent years, and thus is less vulnerable to massive job reduction. Federico Cuello, former Dominican ambassador to the World Trade Organization, told the newspaper that Chinese competition only affects 53% of companies operating in free zones. He said that from 2002, more non-apparel manufacturing operations have been opening shop here than apparel operations. From January to August of this year, some 26 new apparel companies were approved, but at the same time, some 52 non-apparel industries got clearance to do business in the DR. Cuello is confident the new diversity and the adapting of present textile operators to handle more sophisticated apparel with increased value added processes will enable the country to compete in the world market. The newspaper, nevertheless, points out a recent Nathan Associates study that recommends companies to ensure that customs clearance is efficient and fast.
In the Dominican Republic there are more than a hundred chicken farmers that produce 11 million chickens a month. The per capita consumption is over 20 kilograms per person, and the world average is just eight kilograms per person. This massive consumption places the Dominican Republic in the number one slot in the Caribbean region with Costa Rica number two at 53.3 pounds per person per year. The statistics show that the poultry sector of the Dominican agricultural activity has a solid base to continue increasing its production, according to Osmar Benitez of the JAD. Overall, each Dominican consumes on average 17 chickens throughout the year. Poultry retailing gives jobs to somewhere between 40,000 and 42,000 people, with 16,000 just dedicated to the killing and cleaning of the birds. The Dominican Republic produces over 30% of all the poultry produced in the entire Central American and Caribbean region. Guatemala is a distant second at 22%.
The Police arrested a third suspect in the shooting of Second Lieutenant Heriberto Espaillat Castillo, still in serious condition, and the killings of hardware store owner Abundio Polanco and watchman Rafael de Jesus Grullon in Cabarete, Puerto Plata, and Las Terrenas. Regarding Luis Antonio Paredes Calcano (a.k.a. Karico), the Police confirmed that he already had been arrested five times in the past for serious crimes. The Police have also revealed that they learned the identity of the fourth suspect, known only as El Gringo, and have asked that he turn himself in peacefully. Previously, the Police had identified and arrested Santos and Gerson Kelly, of Samana, as the assailants of a German couple and the ones who wounded the lieutenant. The Police had asked their family to tell them to surrender but the suspects evaded capture in Las Terrenas and went to Cabarete where they assaulted the tourist couple and wounded the police officer. They were hunted down and captured when they tried to ride a bus in Sabana de Yasica, Puerto Plata.
Grace Diaz has become the first Dominican woman in US history to win a state office in the 2 November election. She is also only the sixth Dominican female ever elected overall (the remaining five are elected to city or county offices). Diaz was elected as State Representative in Rhode Island, while Ernesto Curiel was elected to the Carolina Municipal Assembly in Puerto Rico, making him the first Dominican to win an elected office in the city of Carolina and the just third Dominican ever to win elective office in the history of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
"We are very proud of the Dominicans who won their races on Election Day," said Cid Wilson, the president of the Dominican American Round Table (DANR). He highlighted how the newly-elected officials contribute to empowering the Dominican community in the United States.
"It's clear that Dominicans are taking a more active role in the American political system," said Josefina Infante, the first Vice-President of DANR. "We believe that as the Dominican community has come together nationally, elected officials and candidates will continue to exercise best practices from around the country to successfully win elections to public office in their respective communities."
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