12 September, 2017IndustriALL affiliates in the Dominican Republic have reached an agreement with employers in the free trade zones, establishing a minimum wage increase of 20.33 per cent.
The agreement is the result of months of negotiations between the FEDOTRAZONAS, FENATRAZONAS, FUTRAZONA and UNATRAZONAS unions and employers, and is an important victory for the more than 100,000 workers employed in free trade zone enterprises.
The agreement was adopted as a decision at a special meeting of the National Wage Committee on 6 September. It will enter into force on 1 October with an increase of 15 per cent, and a further increase of 5.33 per cent as of 1 January 2018, thereby reaching the level of 10,000 Dominican pesos per month (US$210).
The agreement also includes provisions to reactivate the Tripartite Commission created by the Decree of the Executive Authority to develop initiatives to improve the workers’ quality of life.
“This is the first time in recent decades that we have achieved an increase of this magnitude," says Mayra Jiménez, coordinator of the IndustriALL National Council the Dominican Republic.
“Despite achieving an increase well above the inflation of 5.4 per cent, the minimum wage in the free trade zone is still very fragile. So we hope we can continue to rely on the support, solidarity, assistance and commitment of our great global family of IndustriALL in our fight for a decent wage.”
IndustriALL supports the fight for a decent wage for workers of the sector in free zones in the Dominican Republic, and has been providing training and assistance to design strategies to strengthen their struggle and their negotiating capacities with a view to improving their quality of life through better wages.