The National Salaries Commission, a subordinate group of the Ministry of Labor, has warned the National Business Council (CONEP) that the agreement for a 25% increase on the salaries ranging between the minimum wage and RD$20,000 per month carries the validity of the law. The resolution that announced the new wage increase was reported last week, but CONEP has taken the stance that it would not be mandatory for those workers earning more than the minimum wage if their employer had already awarded a 25% or more increase to their personnel. CNS director Gloria Hernandez said that Resolution 2-04 established wage increases of 30% for those earning the legal minimum wage and 25% for those earning above the minimum wage but below RD$20,000. She said that the new resolution was ratified as the substitute for the former wage agreement that had been settled by the unions and employers. She told reporters that there is no clause in the document to indicate that the 25% increase would be “voluntary.” CONEP says that it has not broken any agreement and that they have limited their comments to placing the resolution in the context of the current conditions existing in the Dominican industrial and commercial communities. They said they had agreed with labor “that the 25% wage increase…would not be applied to those entities that had already increased salaries by 25% this year and in many cases by more than 25%.” CONEP reaffirmed its support of Resolution 2-04, however, and urged its members to conform to the terms set out therein.