The Socialist Movement of Workers (MST) and the Union of Cane Workers (UTC) denounced that the increase in the minimum wage for workers in the sugar industry, announced by the government, will not benefit the majority of workers because they receive payments piecework by production and do not enjoy a formal employment relationship with a salary.

“Most sugarcane workers, herdsmen, carters, and other functions within sugar agricultural work do not earn a salary per day but rather piecework payments, around 200 pesos per ton of cane cut. They do not benefit from the salary increase decreed by the government,” they declared in a statement.

The representatives of these organizations demand that the payment per ton of cane cut be increased to at least RD$580, and have maintained a fight against semi-slavery, precariousness, and super-exploitation, for decent wages, freedom of association, pensions, access to health, housing dignity, and an eight-hour working day because currently in the sector the workdays run up to 14 hours.

According to the declaration of these organizations, the working class does not have representatives in the dialogues of businessmen, government, and union bureaucrats.

“The union bureaucrats of the CNUS, CASC, and CNTD also represent business interests. That is why Abinader rewarded his leaders with privilege pensions of 75 thousand pesos. The CNUS, which in the past supported the PLD governments and Gonzalo Castillo’s candidacy, now fervently supports Abinader and even invited him to be a speaker at its Congress in December last year,” they stated.

Increase

Last Tuesday, the President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, and the Minister of Labor, Luis Miguel de Camps, announced an “unprecedented” salary increase of 101.8% for agricultural workers and 97% for administrative workers in the sugar sector, retroactive to January 2022.