The authorities of the National Association of Industrialists (Andi -Asociación Nacional de Industriales) will attend a meeting of the Social and Economic Council (CES – Consejo Económico y Social) to defend the position that the new minimum wage should be set by a formula produced by a consultant of the International Labor Organization (Organización Internacional del Trabajo).
The Executive Director of Andi, Fernando García Merino stated, “We have a position that we have maintained for a long time, that the mechanism that we have had for years has not worked, precisely because there has not been an agreement between the parties in the negotiations of the minimum wage.”
According to the representative of Andi, the presidents of Honduras, responsible for setting the minimum wage, have always handled the subject from a political point of view, and not from an economic perspective, “They have hurt the sector…” “…according to ILO data, we have increased the minimum wage by more than one hundred per cent in ten years, and that is not possible…” “…if it is not competitive, it affects the productivity of the country.”
García Merino stressed that employees are being paid almost three times the minimum wage of the industrial sector in Nicaragua, and nearly double that of Guatemala and El Salvador.
Manufacturers point out that they cannot continue with a policy of politics assigning the minimum wage if it is not calculated seriously in a technical manner.
“That is why we are talking about a formula, where we sign an agreement between the Government and trade unionists, which will be respected.”
The industrialists say they do not understand the refusal of the workers in the country to adopt this, as several days ago, they had agreed on a formula that takes into account the rate of inflation, economic growth, and profitability, among other factors.
