Public Employees To Get 4% Pay Hike
The 173.000 public sector employees will get a 4% pay raise for the first half of 2007, the government announced yesterday.

Ministro de Trabajo (labour minister), Francisco Morales, made the announcement yesterday following a series of talks and negotiations with the trade unions, who had wanted more.

"The Ministerio de Hacienda (Revenue ministry), although it has a good miniser, it does not have the money to offer a higher pay raise", said Morales during his announcement.

The raise will go into effect once it is published in the official government publication La Gaceta and affects all public sector salaries for the first six monts of 2007. "Unfortunately we have little elbow room", said the minister during his announcement late yesterday afternoon.

Hours before the Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados (ANEP), the largest of the public workers union, sent out a press release criticizing the government for its tight lipped position on pay raises. "We can only suppose that the governnment headed by the Arias brothers will set the raise by decree, given that we see no indication of any possible discussion on the matter", said Albino Vargas, head of the trade union.

Talks of a 4% increase had been circulating within the Hacienda since last September, but no official word was made until yesterday.

Xiomara Rojas, a union leader, said that the current government is "incapable" to sit down and negotiate with the unions. "If they (the government members) were intelligent, they would not close the door to us when the legislative assembly is in discussion of the Tratado de Libre Comercio (free trade deal with the United States)", said Rojas.

The union leader added that the government action on pay raises only intensifies the working class distaste for the trade deal.