Brazil unionists see rise in minimum wage

Reuters, 03.31.03, 2:10 PM ET BRASILIA, Brazil, March 31 (Reuters) - Brazil's center-left government is set to raise the monthly minimum salary to 240 reais ($72) from 200 reais, trade unionists said on Monday after meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. "That is not an ideal value, but it is what was possible at this moment," said Paulo Pereira da Silva, head of the Forca Sindical union of industrial workers. "We are satisfied because we know that the government is committed to doubling the minimum salary in four years." The government has not yet announced how much it intends to raise the minimum salary, a process that normally takes place during April. Brazil's minimum wage is to a large extent symbolic in this country where millions of poor do not receive even the minimum wage. Its biggest impact tends to be on state workers and it also affects public coffers since many pensions are indexed to the minimum wage. Pereira and other unionists met with Lula on Monday to discuss the subject. As Lula's new government is the first in Brazil's history to be elected from a left-wing party, observers have speculated about the size of the annual hike this year. However, if the wage rises to 240 reais, a 20 percent increase, it would be above the inflation rate of 15.85 percent in the 12 months to February.