The talks regarding possible industry-wide minimum wage increases have once again broken off as management offered 8% against the 30% demanded by worker representatives in the talks.
As reported, one of the major stumbling blocks to a successful resolution of these discussions is the call by management to reclassify different enterprises before salary talks can begin in earnest. Management wants to introduce a new company category —the micro-enterprise— and labor flatly refuses to accept this and insists instead on the salary increases.
The head of the National Central for Dominican Workers (CNTD), Jacobo Ramos, said that management’s positions are purely “sectarian,” adding that his people are totally opposed to the reclassification of different businesses at this point, and will consider this only after wage talks conclude satisfactorily.
Rafael (Pepe) Abreu, another union leader, concurred that management’s insistence on the reclassification of companies makes an agreement impossible. According to reports, Gabriel del Rio, Ramos and Abreu have said that labor will, once again, take to the streets and call upon foreign, international agencies to intervene.
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El Nacional
13 May 2019