The labor movement in the Dominican Republic is hoping that its proposal for a 30% minimum wage increase for private employees will be accepted by the National Committee on Salaries whose members will meet on 15 February at the Ministry of Labor. The spokesman for the labor unions, Rafael (Pepe) Abreu, stressed that the rank and file of labor unions supports the wage increase. Abreu said there is an urgency to increase the salaries of workers since the cost of the basic food basket is now estimated to be some RD$28,000 and many of these workers earn less than RD $13,000 each month.
According to El Nacional newspaper, Abreu understands that the National Committee on Salaries is only authorized to order increases in the minimum wage, but he said that he hopes that companies throughout the country will increase all salaries since the cost of living is constantly going up.
The labor spokesman said that the salary increase proposal was delivered to the National Committee on Salaries in December 2016, but the first meeting was delayed because the Dominican Confederation of Management (Copardom) insisted that the organization had to wait until a new board of directors was sworn-in.
Abreu also talked about severance pay, which in Dominican labor law is called “cesantia”. Some business sectors have proposed the elimination of this benefit, but the union leader says that this is not negotiable even during the tripartite discussions for the modification of the Labor Code.
26 January 2017
