The business sector has ruled out announcing a percentage increase in advance of the meetings to agree on this figure with the unions and the Government.
Colombia's Labor Minister Gloria Inés Ramírez has expressed confidence that a tripartite agreement with employers and unions will be reached before Sunday to set a percentage increase in the minimum wage in 2025.
On leaving the first day of the meeting to negotiate the minimum wage, which brings together the Government, workers and business associations, Ramírez stressed the confidence in the process that began on Wednesday and which now faces intense bilateral and multilateral negotiations after which it is hoped that an agreement will be reached.
He also said that it was "very important" that there were already proposals for the construction of this figure, both from the floor and the ceiling, in reference to the proposals from both sides. "A range is established on this to reach a percentage of consensus," he explained.
The minister referred to the proposals of the Colombian Association of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Acopi), which expects a 5.2% increase in the minimum wage by 2025, and the Central Unitary Workers' Union (CUT), which has maintained that the minimum wage in Colombia should increase by 12% in 2025.
"We are going to work very hard in the coming days to be able to announce an agreement on Sunday that will allow us to maintain the purchasing power of Colombians," Ramírez said.
The proposals for an increase in the minimum wage will be debated between this Wednesday and next Sunday, December 15, at the Negotiation Table. If no agreement is reached on the scheduled date, the Government will have until December 30 to reach a figure that will be approved by decree.
Businessmen refuse to give a figure
The president of the National Association of Industrialists (ANDI) of Colombia, Bruce Mac Master, has ruled out announcing a percentage increase in the minimum wage for 2025 in view of the meetings to agree on this figure with the unions and the Government.
Thus, upon entering the concertation committee on Wednesday, Mac Master asked the Colombian Minister of Labor, Gloria Inés Ramírez, for the Government to play an intermediary role so that a tripartite agreement figure can be reached this week.
"The reason we have not given a percentage is because the probability of agreement increases greatly if we allow the Government to play the role of intermediary in the middle of this tripartite work," he said.
For ANDI, the top priority is for workers to maintain maximum purchasing power, while reducing inflation and maintaining employment and productivity levels, even achieving a reduction in informal employment.
The proposals for an increase in the minimum wage will be debated between this Wednesday and next Sunday, December 15, at the Negotiation Table. If no agreement is reached on the scheduled date, the Government will have until December 30 to reach a figure that will be approved by decree.
"We have this opportunity ahead of us these days and we are all going to be working to achieve consensus, which is not easy," said the business leader, hoping to close an agreement by next Sunday, December 15.
