Representatives of workers and employers who are part of the National Council for Work and Wages (CNTS) have not yet set a date for the first of two regulatory meetings they must hold to determine the single basic wage (SBU) that will govern 2024, but internally they are already working on their arguments .

The two parties are making progress in their positions. On the one hand, the workers’ demand is that next year the salary should be equal to the one from the vital basket of 550 dollars, on the other hand, the employers indicate that technical jobs should prevail.

The legal time will be enough for the government of Guillermo Lasso to define the basic salary for 2024.

On September 27, new representatives of the National Salary Council for the period 2023 – 2025 were elected, and on October 2 they took the oath. Regulations dictate that they must hold two meetings to determine the SBU, and if no agreement is reached, the government will make a final decision on the base salary, which currently stands at $450.

The Wage Council must meet by November 20, and with a change of government expected next December, the Guillermo Lasso administration could resolve the issue. The president has implemented wage increases of $25 a year during his administration to fulfill his campaign bid to increase the base salary from $400 in 2021 to $500.

Newly elected president Daniel Noboa Azín indicated that “the problem is not the increase of salaries to infinity, the problem is that costs are rising faster than the basic salary.” This is controlled by lowering the cost of living, with greater competitiveness in electricity and fuel costs, which translates into lower food costs. Then purchasing power increases and you can have greater prosperity.” He said this in an interview for this newspaper when he went to the second election round in August last year.

Workers are waiting for a consensus with employers so that the basic salary in 2024 would not be determined by the current government or the one elected on October 15.

The proposal that workers will bring to a meeting to set the basic wage that will prevail from January is “a general pay rise and a single basic wage comparable to the vital basket of $550”. This is indicated by the president of the Ecuadorian Confederation of Free Trade Union Organizations (Ceosl), Marcela Arellano, who is part of the tripartite body for the labor sector.

According to the leader, for workers who receive a single basic salary, the increase must be equal to the cost of the living basket. The National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) determines the family and vital basket, the former is $782.34 and the latter is $550.74 (data as of September 2023).

“By 2024, we are asking for a general increase in wages for all workers. Only a general increase in wages and an increase in the SBU at the expense of the vital basket will enable the reactivation of the economy, the continuation of frozen and low wages is the continuation of subsidizing cheap labor from workers to employers,” says Arellano.

These are the representatives of employers and workers in the National Wage Council, in order to determine the SBU for 2024.

While on the employers’ side, the executive director of the Association of Ecuadorian Banana Exporters (Aebe), José Antonio Hidalgo, who is a substitute in the National Wage Council, indicates that expectations always point to prevailing positions. techniques aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of exports to continue conquering space in different markets.

Also, he claims that they are still internally working on a position with a group of representatives of the employer sector and have not yet confirmed the session. Arellano agrees with the latter that there is no date for the meeting yet, but adds that they already have general agreements. in the United Workers’ Front (FUT) on request trade union movement.