BRIEFS: Business

Two unions present wage increase bills

The Consejo Nacional de Trabajadores Organizados (Conato) is honing a bill that it hopes will clinch long-awaited salary increases.

Conato member Alfredo Berrocal said that bill writers will include a revision of the country’s inflation indexes in respect to the price of staple food goods, which have registered steady increases over the last several months.

“Some 63 percent of workers earned salaries less $400 per month [the approximate minimum salary], and with that they must cope with the cost of the basic basket above $500 [each month]” he said.

Union leaders are expected to present the draft to the Asamblea Nacional on Oct. 1, which coincides with a scheduled protest march to the Asamblea by Conato members.

Yesterday, the Frente Nacional por la Defensa de los Derechos Económicos y Sociales met with members of the Asamblea to verify that their draft of a general salary hike was received by all of the deputies present.

Adolfo Linares, vice president of the Cámara de Comercio, commented that these proposals “are a serious mistake,” since they threaten to have a negative impact on businesses.

“We've been open to dialogue with the workers. Now, what we ask is that deputies analyze the matter and not just approve it by politicking,” he said.