Representatives of the Dominican business sector are willing to offer workers a salary increase of over 30%, but on condition that the workers’ unions guarantee that they will agree to eliminate severance pay in the process of reforming the Labor Code, as reported in El Nuevo Diario. Speaking to reporters yesterday, Wednesday, 8 April 2015, labor union spokesman Rafael (Pepe) Abreu said that they would never sign an agreement to exchange one thing for another. One union leader, Gabriel Del Rio, said that there would be a general strike if severance pay were ever eliminated.
Labor and business sector representatives have been meeting to discuss an increase in the minimum wage.