President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador recognized the need to improve the wages of workers in Mexico and stressed that in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador the minimum wage is double that of Mexicans.
He said that in this regard progress is being made and in his government “for the first time in 36 years the minimum wage increased by 16 percent” and this year, according to Social Security data, higher salaries are being reported since this institution has records.
“We already have an average salary of those enrolled in Social Security of around 11,600 pesos per month, this had not been given,” he added, and promised that the salary of workers will improve and that “will never happen again ”What the previous governments“ did in 36 years ”, that is, increase them below inflation levels.
“That in practice, in reality, meant a loss of the purchasing power of wages,” he said.
And in this regard, he compared that three decades ago a minimum wage was enough to buy 50 kilos of tortillas, while now, despite the increase of 16 percent, it barely allows to buy six kilos.
“This deteriorated the salary throughout the neoliberal period!” He insisted.
He commented that now with the immigration issue, he began to investigate how much was the minimum wage in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
“And I was surprised that the minimum wage in these three Central American countries is double what the minimum wage in Mexico is. Look at what levels we are of social-economic deterioration! ”He released.
“That is why we have to improve salaries, we are going to do it gradually, gradually, because it is not possible by decree, that is, it will increase the salary to 100 percent.
“No, you have to gradually increase the salary so that the purchasing power of the salary is improving, so that we also have productive activities, that there are companies that give jobs and have facilities, not with stunted wages, but fair wages” he explained.
He also said that when the boom in China began “they said they had a comparative advantage that they paid very low wages and that is why China became the factory of the world.”
“Now it turns out that the salary in China is also higher than the salary in Mexico; so, it is an issue that we are going to deal with ”.
However, he noted that “everything depends on how the budget is managed.”
“If there is honesty, reach the budget; and without borrowing from Mexico, without raising taxes, without having petrol, development can be financed, and there are better living conditions, better working conditions, ”he said.
He recalled that this is why his government promoted an austerity policy with which he is saving “a lot”.
During the event that led the hospital of this community, in the framework of his inspection tour of rural hospitals of the IMSS Bienestar, which this time began Friday in Yucatan, continued in Campeche and will end in Chiapas, the president also addressed the issue of migration.
He recalled that this region of southern Campeche, near the border with Guatemala and adjacent to Tabasco and Chiapas, was populated with settlers who migrated from those two states, as well as from farther ones such as Guerrero and Durango.
“Now that we are attending to the migratory phenomenon, we are helping Guatemalan, Honduran, Salvadoran brothers, because those who pass through Campeche, Tabasco, Chiapas, those who enter the country and go to the north, are doing it out of necessity, because there are problems in Central America, especially in Honduras, ”he justified.
He insisted that his government is not in favor of solving problems only with the use of force, “because that is not a definitive solution.”
“What we want is for the Central American, like the Mexican, the Campechean, to work and be happy where he was born, where his relatives, customs, and cultures are, that whoever wants to go find life to other places does for pleasure, not for necessity, ”he added.
He reiterated that it is his dream that he wishes to make come true, “that there be work in the communities, in the villages”.
He commented: “And we are applying the Sembrando Vida program in Central America, as it is being applied here in this region …”, although it did not abound more in this regard.
He also resumed the issues of health and the Mayan Train.
Source: proceso
The Mazatlan Post
