After two months of negotiations, last June 15 SITRAUC workers signed a new collective bargaining agreement that union president Wilson Montero tells SIREL is highly beneficial for workers and stipulates a historic wage increase.

-¿-How were negotiations for the collective agreement conducted?

-Negotiations were conducted smoothly and in an atmosphere of cordial relations between workers and management. We began negotiating in the month of April and had reached an agreement by June 15. We had thirteen clauses to revise in the old agreement, a number of them dealing with economic issues, including: minimum wage, base salary, life insurance, and housing plans.

-What gains would you highlight?

-We think that the result we obtained with respect to the wage increase was one of the most favorable, especially in view of the global crisis. We obtained a more than 15 percent increase for the minimum wage, and a similar increase for the base salary. The workers are very pleased with this gain because it means that they will be earning around 2000 pesos more per month (approximately 56 dollars).

Another item to be highlighted is the improvement in the housing plan, through which workers used to receive 2,000 dollars in aid and will now be receiving approximately 2,937 dollars.

-What is the timeframe of the new agreement?

-This new agreement will be in force for 18 months.