Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)— On Monday, October 19, Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodríguez met at Miraflores Palace with representatives of Fedecámaras, Fedeindustria, and the country’s labor federations to review the progress of the National Dialogue Table for Labor and Social Consensus. The tripartite process, launched on April 13, brings together the government, employers, and unions.According to Alba Ciudad, the meeting addressed the formalization of income as wages, salary scales, job stability, working hours, bonuses, vacation pay, severance, and seniority benefits. Officials also discussed legal proposals and other instruments related to those issues.#EnVideo📹| Presidenta Delcy Rodríguez lidera un encuentro con representantes de Fedecámaras, Fedeindustrias y Centrales de Trabajadores con el fin de impulsar concensos laborales, diálogo social y el crecimiento del aparato productivo de la nación. pic.twitter.com/j5cN7ntX0o— Ministerio de Comunicación e Información (@mippci_ven) October 19, 2026The government delegation included Economy Minister Anabel Pereira, Education Minister Héctor Rodríguez, Planning Minister Ricardo Menéndez, Economy Vice President Calixto Ortega, Labor Minister Carlos Alexis Castillo, Higher Education Minister Ana María San Juan, and Presidential Commissioner Eduardo Piñate.Fedecámaras president Felipe Capozzolo and Fedeindustria president Orlando Camacho represented the business sector, while the labor side included representatives of the Bolivarian Socialist Workers’ Central of Venezuela (CBST), Confederation of Venezuelan Worker (CTV), and Independent Trade Union Alliance (ASI); published reports did not identify the individual union delegates.The meeting followed Rodríguez’s October 8 announcement that the dialogue table would present results in November. The timing has raised expectations that the talks could lead to labor policy announcements, although no specific measure or change to the minimum wage was confirmed at the meeting.The wage debate comes after more than a decade of illegal US sanctions that have restricted Venezuela’s access to financing and markets and deepened the country’s economic crisis. The statutory minimum wage, however, has not been adjusted since March 2022, when it was set at 130 bolívars per month (approximately US $0.15). Sanctions have severely constrained the economy, while the government’s continued reliance on non-salary bonuses has also left workers’ base pay—and the benefits calculated from it—without a comparable adjustment.In May, the government raised the public-sector “integral minimum income” to the equivalent of US $240 per month. That figure consists of a US $200 monthly bonus and a US $40 food allowance; it is not a US $240 base salary. Because these payments are treated as bonuses, they do not increase the salary used to calculate benefits such as vacation pay and severance. The distinction has become a central point of dispute for workers demanding better labor conditions.Since the January 3 US military attack and abduction of President Nicolás Maduro, business associations, right-wing media outlets, and economic commentators have intensified calls for changes to labor rules. Fedecámaras has specifically called for revising the calculation of severance payments, arguing that the current system creates uncertain costs for employers, as reported by local news outlets.Chavista supporters of the 2012 Organic Labor Law warn that changes framed as “labor consensus” could weaken protections won during Hugo Chávez’s presidency. The discussion has also been echoed by pro-business voices within the PSUV and among political and economic commentators linked to far-right sectors.Those concerns have sharpened as workers continue to protest over low wages and the erosion of labor benefits. On October 13, healthcare, education, and university workers marched in Caracas to press their demands; union representatives delivered a petition reportedly bearing more than 45,000 signatures. Healthcare union leader Pablo Zambrano warned that attracting foreign investment by relying on “cheap labor” would not amount to a fair recovery for Venezuelan workers, as reported by Venezuelanalysis.Venezuela: Delcy Rodríguez Announces New Social Policies, Minimum Wage Increase (+National Pilgrimage)The challenge facing the government is therefore twofold: address workers’ urgent demands for purchasing power and restore the value of wages in employment benefits, while ensuring that any new legal framework does not transfer the cost of economic recovery onto workers. The November announcements will show whether the process produces a meaningful path toward wage recovery or gives greater weight to employer demands to revise protections established under President Chávez. Special for Orinoco Tribune by staffOT/JRE/SL