The business community and the representatives of the various workers’ syndicates agreed to a 30% increase for minimum wage earners and a 25% wage increase for those earning less than RD$20,001 per month. The other wage scales were not affected by the agreement, according to the Listin Diario, and any increase in the higher wage categories will be up to individual business owners. The decision will become official at 10am today during a meeting scheduled to be held at the National Committee on Salaries, and will enter into effect in 15 days, just as is provided for in the agreements. Eight hours of discussions were needed to round out the wage package that will affect minimum wage earners in the private sector. Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa told reporters that the increase would not be applied to the public sector because such a move would violate Article 115 of the Constitution and because the 2004 Budget law does not allow for such an increase. CONEP, the Employers’ Confederation and the Industrial Association on the one hand, and the Council for Union Solidarity on the other, agreed that this pact sets a definite precedent, as salaries other than the minimum wage were taken into consideration for the first time. The Confederation of Small and Medium Businesses has requested that the wage increase be implemented in two stages within those business sectors. The agreement was reached after the unionists came down from their original 60% wage increase position and the employers consented to consider wage increases for salaried or hourly personnel earning as much as RD$20,000 per month. With the new increase, an employee currently making a salary of RD$15,000 will now take home RD$19,500.