The issue of salary increases continued to be one of the most discussed last week. The PRD block of the Chamber of Deputies has submitted a bill that seeks to double the minimum salary received by public servants. It also establishes a 50% increase for those making from RD$2,000 to RD$5,000, 35% for those earning from RD$5,000 to RD$7,000 and 25% for those whose salaries are over RD$7,000 a month. The bill also establishes that the minimum salary of those working in the private sector should be discussed by the National Committee of Salaries, but calls for caution and prudence in establishing increases, taking into consideration the effects on inflation and the exchange rate of the US dollar to the peso. If approved the bill would become effective in January, 1997.
Several ministers of the Fernandez government have addressed the salary issue. For example, Lic. Ligia Amada Melo de Cardona has said that the government will increase salaries of public school teachers by around 80%, which would bring a teacher working in the morning and afternoon RD$5,300 a month.
The Secretary of the Presidency, Danilo Medina, has suggested that the necessary funding come from an increase in the tax on vehicle fuel and an increase in the value added tax, (the Impuesto a la Transferencia e Bienes Industrializados y Servicios – ITBIS).
Any public sector increases will have an effect on the nation’s entire labor force. Some unions have requested a minimum salary of RD$5,000. Jose Manuel Paliza, president of the Consejo Nacional de Empresa Privada, the largest private sector association, commented that to increase salaries to that level would be equivalent to “economic suicide.”