Bolivian unions and government announce May Day pay rise

The MAS government has reached an agreement with the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) for an increase to the national minimum wage and for salaries for all workers, effective May 1st, as the country prepares to celebrate International Workers Day.

The national minimum wage is set to increase by 4%, while workers already earning above minimum wage will benefit from a 3% raise. President Luis Arce and the COB made the announcement this week at the Casa Grande del Pueblo following a meeting between the President, Ministers and the COB, headed by COB executive secretary Juan Carlos Huarachi.

At the 4 hour-long meeting, COB workers were presented with a detailed explanation of the government’s technical data on the current economic situation as the country recovers from the effects of Covid-19 and flagrant mismanagement by the defacto coup regime.

“We are absolutely aware that this first achievement will give us the basis to continue advancing in all the pending issues with the COB,” he said.

For his part, the executive secretary of the COB, Juan Carlos Huarachi, welcomed the president’s willingness and commitment to meet the demands of the workers and ratified that this organization will continue working to improve the productive apparatus.

“We are once again ratifying a commitment that we workers will guarantee the political stability of our government,” he said.

Workers have negotiated annual raises with the MAS government for each May 1st since 2006, a tradition that was broken in 2020, during the Jeanine Añez coup administration.

A mass march has been called for Sunday by the COB, to be held in the city of Oruro, in celebration of International Workers Day.

By Kawsachun News