Honduras News – Daily News about Honduras

The country’s private business sector said that the establishment of a new minimum wage for workers is an issue that “was closed” at the time that union leaders gave the government until August 15th of this year to make a decision.

The legal adviser of the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (COHEP), Armando Urtecho, said: “The private sector already defined their position, if workers want to go to demonstrations, torch the country, burning factories or request the removal of all government officials, they will do so, but for us, the minimum wage matter is closed.”

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Employers are asking for flexibility in the negotiation process of the minimum wage this year, and workers have asked to suspend the talks for 15 days. If agreed, the negotiations would reconvene on January 21, 2010, six days before the inauguration of President-elect of the Republic, Porfirio Lobo Sosa.

The director of the National Association of Industrialists (ANDI), Fernando Garcia, said that delaying negotiations will slow new investment into Honduras, and the opening of local businesses that depend on determining a new minimum wage.

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Negotiators from the labor unions propose to set a minimum wage of 8,500 lempiras, according to the leader of the Confederation of Workers of Honduras (CUTH), Jose Luis Baquedano.

“In this country to live more or less, a worker must earn monthly lempiras of 8,500 to cover the cost of basic food, and health, housing, education and utilities,” said the labor leader.

“If a minimum wage is based on nothing more than basic food, that means that the worker is unable to meet demand for housing, health and education, we must speak of fair wages to improve living conditions” he said.

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