The increase was ordered by decree, because after several weeks of negotiations, the labor unions and the production unions were unable to reach an agreement.
The workers will now receive an increase of 123,500 pesos (approximately 28 dollars at the current exchange rate), which means that they will earn 1,423,500 pesos (about 323 dollars).
Likewise, the transport subsidy also experienced an increase and went from 162 thousand pesos to 200 thousand pesos, which means that the nominal minimum wage, including the transport subsidy, is 1 million 623 thousand 500 (about 369 dollars).
With the increase, a little more than two million 200 thousand workers in Colombia will receive a basic salary benefit, that corresponds to 10 percent of the people employed in the country. The head of State considered the increase figure is due to the fact that inflation in 2024 will be around five percent, while that of food would be 2.7 percent annually, “the largest drop in the entire Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,” he said.
He added that the inflation expected for 2025 is three percent, which means that “the real, not nominal, salary will have an increase of 6.5 percent.”
Petro added that the real minimum wage in Colombia has grown from 30 to 35 percent during the time he has been in power.
The president’s decision was celebrated by different union organizations in the country.
The president of the Central Unitary Workers of Colombia (CUT), Fabio Arias, said, for example, that the aforementioned increase will allow citizens to have greater purchasing power.
“The labor unions have called for reducing the wage gap that exists with the previous decisions of the neoliberal and business governments, which always applied the total productivity of the factors, when we say that what should be applied is labor productivity,” said the union leader.
Meanwhile, the president of the Confederation of Workers of Colombia, John Caicedo, estimated that the new minimum wage for next year is a good increase.
He considered that the increase corresponds to the requests that the labor unions made from the beginning for a 12 percent increase.
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