Last week, as happens every December, spokespersons from the labor confederations and business unions, with the support of the Ministry of Labor, began negotiations and agreements to define the increase in the minimum wage for next year.
Jaime Alberto Cabal, president of Fenalco (National Federation of Merchants), stressed that this figure is quite high, since we must take into account the economic squeeze that is coming, which is why they have asked on more than one occasion that the increase be hand in hand with the situation in the country.
Given these statements, President Gustavo Petro responded on X (Twitter): “Fenalco should reconsider its public actions. If they want to sell in their large commercial stores, then they need buyers with good salaries. By seeking to enslave the country’s workforce, “Fenalco would be building the ruin of its own affiliates.”
The union leader, however, did not remain silent regarding the publication of the Colombian head of state and assured in Vicky in Week He would have liked him to attend to them in person to discuss the issue, instead of sending them that type of trills.
“The president has every right to make that statement if he believes it is correct. But we do not see it as an attack only on Fenalco, but on the entire workforce of the country. It is important that there is a balance to be able to generate employment and not lose more jobs.”he initially indicated.
Then he added: “Fenalco is not made up of large stores, as it is made up of medium and small companies. A space to economically debate the increase in the minimum wage and not through trills would have been very interesting. “We have always looked for a space to speak with the president.”
Cabal emphasized in this medium that if the proposal of the unions, representing the workers, was accepted, in the sense that the salary increase be 18%, on paper it would imply that payroll payment would increase by 25% for companies, a situation that could result in them not generating many jobs so as not to incur more expenses.
“Why don’t we raise the minimum wage to 50%, let’s see what happens? No, because company costs rise, competitiveness is lost, cheaper imported products enter. “The fact that they enter cheaper means that there is less possibility of businesses being sustained and more employment being generated,” he concluded.
