The presidents of the Consejo Nacional de la Empresa Privada (CONEP) and of the Asociación de Industrias de la República Dominicana (AIRD), José Manuel Paliza and Celso Marranzini, agreed to warn President Leonel Fernández that increasing the minimum salary to RD$5,000, as proposed by the main unions, would result in greater unemployment. They said there are non-economic reasons which justify the salary increase proposed by the main unions, and pointed out that businessmen are the first ones to wish that Dominicans have more purchasing power because their companies will sell more. But reality clearly shows that at this time minimum salary of RD$5,000 is just not possible.