The president of the Association of Herrera and Province of Santo Domingo Industrial Association (AEIH) Victor Castro says that he takes President Danilo Medina at his word when he says that wages are low, and challenged the government to help change this situation by increasing purchasing power.
At a recent press conference, President Danilo Medina complained that wages were too low in the private and public sector.
As reported in Hoy, Castro said that raising wages is not a sustainable solution. He says when a general wage increase is introduced it simply increases companies’ labor liabilities and unleashes a cost transfer chain that gobbles up the wage increase.
Castro said that instead, efforts needed to be focused on increasing real wages that in the past 10 years have fallen by 27%. He called for improvements in public services and general economic cost reductions.
He said that what was needed was more competition, and the destruction of cartels, monopolies and oligopolies that affect the quality of life and real wages. He said that awareness needed to be raised among businesspeople that better wages would guarantee more consumers with increased purchasing power that benefits all.
Labor union representatives are campaigning for a mandatory wage increase across the board. The current legislation only allows the National Wages Commission to set minimum wage increases.