With the new Minister of Labour, Ivonne Núñez, this Friday, November 24, at 10:00 a.m., the third meeting of the National Council for Work and Wages (CNTS) will be held, where the single basic wage (SBU) for 2024 will be defined. according to its members.

Two meetings of workers and employers have already been held, the first was on November 9 and the second on November 17, and both parties presented their proposals:

2024 Base Wage: Employers Propose Increase of $4.12 According to Technical Parameters

The expectation of the employers at the meeting with Núñez is that the institutionality of the National Wage Council is respected and that the technical positions for setting up the SBU are considered. “Tomorrow we will have a meeting, a third personal meeting, where we suggest that a technical calculation be taken into account, whether from a formula or by inflation, in order to determine the salary, it must be a formula. “, said the Executive Director of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE), José Antonio Hidalgo, which is part of the employer sector.

According to Hidalgo, for two years now, the salary increase has been a political decision, while the technical part has not been taken into account. “This creates a big impact on competitiveness, where the numbers we have to monitor and see are the consolidation of the formal sector and the spread of formality throughout the country, and this is achieved precisely by the constant making of technical decisions in these areas,” he said.

The businessman is calling for a $25 increase every year during the administration of former president Guillermo Lasso. That was an offer in the pre-election campaign. However, this proposal was not fully fulfilled due to the death of the cross, due to which general elections were expected in which the newly installed president Daniel Noboa Azín was elected. Current salary is $450.

By 2024, the basic salary was planned to be $475, according to former government minister Henry Cucalón, in case they did not reach a consensus between workers and employers, but with the advance of Nobo Azín’s estate, this did not happen.

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For his part, the president of the Ecuadorian Confederation of Unitary Class Organizations of Workers (Cedocut), Mesías Tatamuez, said that they stand by the proposal to equate the SBU with the cost of the vital basket and that is what they will present in the meeting that will be held this Friday.

“We haven’t changed our position, because it would be unfair to increase $4.12, which the businessmen are proposing,” he said.

In case no agreement is reached, the leader pointed out, the new government that will establish the SBU must consider “what it will do in that process”. “It will continue in the same way. The government must see this reality, the unemployment that is so high and all the things that are happening,” said Tatamuez.