Bolivian government decrees wage increase rejected by business people

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On May 1, Bolivia’s President, Luis Arce, announced in a march for the International Labor Day the increase of minimum wages of 3% per month, in agreement with workers’ unions, even though business people expressed an anticipated rejection.

“Today we ratify the decree of the wage increase of 3% in the basic salary and 4% in the national minimum wage,” said the president during a speech in a public square in the Andean city of Oruro before several thousand workers who marched for the commemoration of May 1st.

For the first time since he came to power in 2020, the president led the march of several thousand workers called by the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), the country’s largest union.

With the increase in the national minimum wage, the amount rises from US$311 to US$323.

The measure establishes that the salary increase percentage is the basis for negotiating a higher amount between workers and employers.

The salary increase resulted from a negotiation during the last weeks between the Executive Power and leaders of the Central Obrera Boliviana, while the employers Confederación de Empresarios Privados de Bolivia (CEPB) requested, without results, to be included in the talks.

The CEPB anticipated that the measure was negative for the economy.

A communiqué said that there was “a political agreement” and that “the harmful consequences of these measures on the economic and social level will be the full responsibility of the government and the workers’ leadership”.

President Arce walked through the streets and avenues of Oruro at the head of the COB march. Covered with a mask due to the covid-19 pandemic, he carried a red flag, the traditional flag of the trade union organization.

Workers from different sectors of production also waved Bolivian flags.

Likewise, militants of the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) paraded with blue flags and with the cry “Lucho (Luis Arce), you are not alone, Lucho, you are not alone!”

The government believes that the local right-wing maintains conspiratorial plans against the government.

With information from AFP