Bolivian president Evo Morales signed a decree earlier this month (on May 1, International Workers Day, to be exact) which calls for private companies to give their workers a 5 percent raise.

Labor minister Walter Delgadillo said that the measures looks to “do right” by those who “never receive raises”, unlike public workers, who, incidentally, are calling for raises of their own — of up to 20 percent:

“Some of you are asking for a 20 percent raise in salary. I can’t understand it,” said Morales, who asked that those workers be “patriots” and understand that it isn’t possible to raise salaries by that much.

Perhaps Evo can’t understand it because last year he sliced his own salary in half (to $1700 USD per month) to pay for ten new teachers. Nice gesture, even if the minimum wage in Bolivia is a just 525 Bolivianos — 65 U.S. dollars per month.

Via / EsMas.com