Employers and workers’ representatives will renew their talks designed to achieve a new minimum wage and comparable wage increases across all levels of the work force. The workers’ unions are requesting a 60% increase in the wages between the minimum wage and RD$20,000 per month. From this point on, the unionists want each business or industry to adjust salaries according to their own situation. As yet, the position of the business community has not been made public, although yesterday, according to El Caribe, a 30% wage increased was allegedly agreed to during a meeting of held by CONEP (Private Business Council). CONEP leader Elena Viyella de Paliza denied such an agreement, however, saying only that they had met and decided to go to the National Commission on Salaries so that some agreement may be reached. Viyella said that the best thing to do at this time would be to call the National Commission into session. Upon hearing of the union proposal that pegged the increase at 60%, most industrialists and business community members rejected the idea, although Celso Marranzini, a former CONEP president, conceded that the proposals should at least be studied. As reported, consumer prices increased by 42.6% in 2003 and between January and August of 2004 the cost of living increased by 32%, making for an 89% increase in the cost of living index over the past two years. The last general wage increase was set at 25% and only affected those earning the minimum wage, and even this was conducted in two stages: a 10% increase in 2003 and a 15% increase in 2004. Many firms did not follow suit among those earning higher wages, however, a source of agitation for many workers. Thousands of businesses closed last year, unable to pass the increasing costs of doing business on to consumers.