Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has said he confident an agreement can be reached between trade unionists, the business community, and the government on the increase on the legal minimum wage for 2012.
Santos said that an agreement, which would be a very positive sign for the country, would be possible if all parties have a flexible and reasonable attitude toward the proposals that were put forward on the dialogue table.
“I hope that we can reach – as we did when I was finance minister – an agreement with the workers and we can issue the degree with the support of everybody,” said the head of state.
The business community put forward an increase of 4.75 % and workers’ representatives put forward 8%.
He added that “One must not forget that many times [that] a minimum wage that is too high [has affected] the employment possibilities of many people. This has to be taken into account.”