Santiago business leaders urge consensus for wage hike

Santo Domingo.- Santiago business leaders and retailers on Monday announced they favor a consensus to increase salaries for all workers, one day before management and labor unions are slated to meet in the Labor Ministry’s National Wage Committee.

They also called for a national pact to create jobs, as proposed y the Government, voiced by Presidency Administrative minister José Ramón Peralta last week.

The presidents of the Santiago Strategic Development Plan, Carlos Fondeur, of the Merchants Association, Carlos Lora, among others, said a consensus is needed for a pay raise for private employees.

The also agreed to conclude pact to create jobs. They argue that there’s a need for further wage adjustments “without trauma.”

Interviewed separately, Lora and Fondeur called on the nation’s "dynamic sectors" to support the government’s proposal, arguing that it will help stimulate the economy and stressed the need to reach a wage hike agreement on Wednesday.

Fondeur said all sectors must get involved to forge a pact of this breadth, given the absence of a true national agenda.