Government defends proposal for a 20% salary increase

Following the presentation of the business sector 's proposal, the President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, reaffirmed yesterday that the salary increase must be 20% and that he will maintain his defense of this measure, backed by economic studies carried out by the Ministries of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD) and Finance.

"We believe it should be 20% and we maintain that," the president said in a headline in LA Semanal .

Abinader stressed that this proposal responds to the need to improve workers' real wages and that the economy "can support it."

His statement comes in a context in which the National Salaries Committee (CNS) continues the debate on the increase of the minimum wage of the non-sectorized private sector, after receiving yesterday the proposal from the business sector, which proposes a 10% increase as of April 1, 2025.

The president of the Employers' Confederation of the Dominican Republic ( Copardom ), Laura Peña Izquierdo, explained that the business proposal is based on several factors, including: the accumulated inflation of the last two years (2023 and 2024), a productivity factor and an additional percentage, which resulted in 10%.

"We are not proposing to divide that 10%, but rather to apply it effectively as of April 1 (2025)," said Peña Izquierdo.

He also indicated that the business sector is open to reviewing the salary situation again in 2026, depending on the economic development of the country.

Government and unions

The director general of salaries, Ángel Martín Mieses, confirmed that the CNS will continue to analyse the proposal and that a new meeting has been called for this Tuesday, 25 February at noon.

" The business community has proposed ten percent. They have made us a fairly broad proposal, they are telling us the conditions of the different Latin American countries and now we are going to analyze it," he said.

From the union sector , the president of the National Confederation of Trade Union Unity (CNUS), Rafael -Pepe- Abreu, pointed out that the offer from the business sector was predictable and that now the debate must focus on finding a middle ground between the existing proposals.

"We knew that the employers would not go beyond ten percent. Now there are three proposals on the table and, if they are averaged, the increase does not add up to 10%. If we really want an agreement, the negotiation will be resolved quickly," said Abreu.

• There are three proposals on the table: one from the trade unions , for 30%; one from the government sector, for 20%; and one from the employers, for 10%, which added up and divided gives an average of 20%, explained Pepe Abreu.

Next steps

The CNS will meet again on Tuesday to continue its analysis of the business proposal and assess the possibility of reaching a consensus. Meanwhile, the union sector and the government maintain their position that the increase should not be less than 20%.

Workers in the non-sectorized private sector receive the following monthly minimum wages, depending on the type of company: large companies: 24,990 pesos, medium-sized companies: 22,908 pesos, small companies: 15,351 pesos and micro-enterprises: 14,161 pesos.

Additionally:

Private security guards are also included in the current debates. They currently earn a salary of 20,527.50 pesos per month and farm workers 595 pesos for a 10-hour workday.

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