Negotiations between Colombian employer groups and trade unions over the country’s minimum wage ended Thursday without an agreement. The Colombian government will now set the country’s minimum wage for 2010 by decree, reported the Wall Street Journal.
Colombian labor unions had demanded an 8% rise in the minimum wage, claiming that it would cause an rise in domestic spending and help exports of Colombian products.
Employer representatives meanwhile had called for a 3.2% rise, 0.7% more than this year’s calculated inflation, which was the government’s guideline last year in establishing the minimum wage level.
“We did not reach an agreement, therefore the process of negotiation is over, and in consequence we do not consider it necessary to hold further meetings on this subject,” the two sides said in a joint declaration on Thursday.
The minimum salary for 2009 is COP496,900 (US$246) per month.
On Monday, Deputy Finance Minister Gloria Ines Cortes said the government would raise the minimum salary by 3% if an agreement wasn’t reached.
The outcome of the negotiations is much as predicted by Colombia Reports’ Gustavo Silva Cano in his recent editorial on the subject.