WASHINGTON, DC, January 26, 2013 (Press-News.org) The Government of Nicaragua, private sector representatives and labor unions recently signed a labor agreement that establishes salary increases in the free zones sector through the year 2017 with the purpose of granting further stability to employees and predictability to investors.
The agreement, called the Free Zones Minimum Wage Tripartite Agreement, sets annual salary increases of eight percent for the 2014-2017 period for employees working within the country's free zones sector. Furthermore, the agreement calls for the development of mechanisms aimed at increasing labor productivity within free zones companies and also for the creation of social programs to benefit employees, such as a fund for housing projects, the distribution of food packages and recreational and health programs.
This is the third tripartite agreement in which the parties involved have cooperatively sought to strengthen and further develop the free zones sector in Nicaragua, which currently employs over 100,000 people (16 percent of the country's formal labor sector) and is one of the main motors of the national economy, with exports of over US$2 billion in 2012.
The first edition of these agreements, unprecedented in Latin America, was signed in 2008 in response to the international financial crisis as a means to protect the free zones sector, both employees and investors. Its ample reception and success in fostering the sustainability of the sector resulted in the signing of a second tripartite agreement in 2010.
"Back in 2008, as a country, we knew we had to react to the international crisis and come up with mechanisms to ensure that the free zones sector maintained its momentum of growth. The tripartite agreement was so successful in accomplishing this goal, that it has become an institutionalized initiative, giving Nicaragua's free zones sector a nearly decade-long period of stability and setting the foundations for the sector's continuous development", commented General Alvaro Baltodano, Presidential Delegate for Investments and Technical Secretary of the National Free Zones Commission.
These agreements have highlighted the country's efforts to improve working conditions and contributed in having Nicaragua become the first country in Latin America to adopt the International Labor Organization's (ILO) "Better Work" program, whose objective is to create a direct link between the application of labor laws and the opportunities to develop international trade. The U.S. Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, awarded Nicaragua US$2 million to support this program as the country was considered a gold standard in the enforcement of labor rights in the textile and apparel sector.
The American Apparel & Footwear Association Executive Vice President, Steve Lamar, also applauded "the Nicaraguan garment industry, the Nicaraguan workers, the Nicaraguan government for coming together with their buyers, U.S. brands, and retailers, to jointly make this commitment to launch the ILO Better Work Program".
PRONicaragua is the Nicaraguan Investment and Export Promotion Agency, established in 2002. It is a non-profit, public-private institution whose mission is to generate economic growth and job creation in Nicaragua by attracting high-quality foreign direct investment. The agency provides complimentary support services to qualified investors seeking investment opportunities in our country. For further information, please contact us at (505) 2270-6400 or http://pronicaragua.org.
Nicaragua Signs Tripartite Agreement on Minimum Wage Increases Through 2017
This is the third tripartite agreement in which the parties involved have cooperatively sought to strengthen and further develop the free zones sector in Nicaragua, which currently employs over 100,000 people.
2013-01-26
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
The Boomers Guide to Recovering Your Lost Retirement: The Bill Fisher Story by Michael Burns Receives the NABE Pinnacle Award for Best Self Help Book
2013-01-26
The Boomers Guide to Recovering Your Lost Retirement: The Bill Fisher Story by Michael Burns Receives the NABE Pinnacle Award for Best Self Help Book. The book tells the story of Bill Fisher, who at the age of 72, started from scratch investing in high-dividend stocks, municipal bonds and residential real estate and over the next 18 years was able to build a net worth of one million dollars.
Bill didn't win the lottery or inherit a large sum of money. What Bill did do was continue to work at his entry level job and invest his pension money, Social Security checks and ...
The OFT Announces Measures to Combat Rogue Debt Management Credit Practices, Says IVA Company, IVAonline.co.uk
2013-01-26
The new guidance is in response to a super-complaint made to the OFT by The Citizens Advice Bureau last March as a result of it's report Cashing In, which revealed how tens of thousands of consumers have been targeted by unscrupulous brokers and debt management companies and tricked out of large sums of money. It details rising instances of dubious practices from brokers and debt management companies, including cold calling or texting consumers offering to help them get an unsecured loan, and taking up front fees for credit brokering but not providing a service, often resulting ...
Depression-era drainage ditches emerge as sleeping threat to Cape Cod salt marshes
2013-01-25
Cape Cod, Massachusetts has a problem. The iconic salt marshes of the famous summer retreat are melting away at the edges, dying back from the most popular recreational areas. The erosion is a consequence of an unexpected synergy between recreational over-fishing and Great Depression-era ditches constructed by Works Progress Administration (WPA) in an effort to control mosquitoes. The cascade of ecological cause and effect is described by Tyler Coverdale and colleagues at Brown University in a paper published online this month in ESA's journal Frontiers in Ecology and the ...
Temple research may lead to new strategies against sepsis
2013-01-25
(Philadelphia, PA) – Scientists at the Center for Translational Medicine at the Temple University School of Medicine are inching closer to solving a long-standing mystery in sepsis, a complex and often life-threatening condition that affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. every year. By blocking the activity of a protein, STIM1, in cells that line the insides of blood vessels in mice, they have halted a cascade of cellular events that culminates in the out-of-control inflammation that marks sepsis, and protected lungs from severe damage.
The findings, reported ...
An important LINC in human hearing
2013-01-25
In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Karen Avraham and colleagues at Tel Aviv University identified a genetic mutation in two families with hereditary high frequency hearing loss. The mutated gene, which has not previously been linked to hearing loss, encodes NESP4, a protein that is expressed in the outer nuclear membrane (ONM) of the hair cells of the ear. Avraham and colleagues found that mutated NESP4 was mislocalized, disrupting a cellular complex known as the "linker of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton" or LINC, which maintains the position of the ...
Prostate cancer cells thrive on stress
2013-01-25
Prostate cancer patients have increased levels of stress and anxiety; however, several recent studies have found that men who take drugs that interfere with the stress hormone adrenaline have a lower incidence of prostate cancer. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation George Kulik and colleagues at Wake Forest University examined the relationship between stress and cancer progression in a mouse model of prostate cancer. Kulik and colleagues found that mice that had been subjected to stress (exposed to the scent of a predator) exhibited a significantly reduced ...
JCI early table of contents for Jan. 25, 2013
2013-01-25
Prostate cancer cells thrive on stress
Prostate cancer patients have increased levels of stress and anxiety; however, several recent studies have found that men who take drugs that interfere with the stress hormone adrenaline have a lower incidence of prostate cancer. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation George Kulik and colleagues at Wake Forest University examined the relationship between stress and cancer progression in a mouse model of prostate cancer. Kulik and colleagues found that mice that had been subjected to stress (exposed to the scent of ...
How to predict the future of technology?
2013-01-25
The bread and butter of investing for Silicon Valley tech companies is stale. Instead, a new method of predicting the evolution of technology could save tech giants millions in research and development or developments of new products—and help analysts and venture capitalists determine which companies are on the right track.
The high-tech industry has long used Moore's Law as a method to predict the growth of PC memory. Moore's Law states that the number of chips on a transistor doubles every 18 months (initially every year). A paper by Gareth James and Gerard Tellis, ...
Researchers identify new target for rheumatoid arthritis
2013-01-25
Researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery have identified a potential new target for drugs to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a protein known as IRHOM2. The finding could provide an effective and potentially less toxic alternative therapy to tumor necrosis factor-alpha blockers (TNF-blockers), the mainstay of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, and could help patients who do not respond to this treatment. Efforts to develop drugs that hone in on this new target are underway.
"This study is an elegant example of the capacity of basic science cell biologists ...
Female thin bodies like men more than women
2013-01-25
A study conducted at the University of Granada has demonstrated that men like female thinness more than women and they find female overweight more unpleasant than women. In addition, the study revealed that women who are not comfortable with their body perceive women with a "normal" body –i.e. women with a healthy weight– as a threat. Specifically, when these women see a "normal" body they experience feelings of displeasure and lack of control, since they feel they have not any control on their own body and cannot make it be as they want.
This research study was conducted ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
New way to find “aged” cells marks fresh approach for research into ageing
From blood sugar to brain relief: GLP-1 therapy slashes migraine frequency
Variability in heart rate during sleep may reveal early signs of stroke, depression or cognitive dysfunction, new study shows
New method to study catalysts could lead to better batteries
Current Molecular Pharmacology impact factor rises to 2.9, achieving Q2 ranking in the Pharmacology & Pharmacy category in 2024 JCR
More time with loved ones for cancer patients spared radiation treatment
New methods speed diagnosis of rare genetic disease
Genetics of cardiomyopathy risk in cancer survivors differ by age of onset
Autism inpatient collection releases genetic, phenotypic data for more than 1,500 children with autism
Targeting fusion protein’s role in childhood leukemia produces striking results
Clear understanding of social connections propels strivers up the social ladder
New research reveals why acute and chronic pain are so different – and what might make pain last
Stable cooling fostered life, rapid warming brought death: scientists use high-resolution fusuline data reveal evolutionary responses to cooling and warming
New research casts doubt on ancient drying of northern Africa’s climate
Study identifies umbilical cord blood biomarkers of early onset sepsis in preterm newborns
AI development: seeking consistency in logical structures
Want better sleep for your tween? Start with their screens
Cancer burden in neighborhoods with greater racial diversity and environmental burden
Alzheimer disease in breast cancer survivors
New method revolutionizes beta-blocker production process
Mechanism behind life-threatening cancer drug side-effect revealed
Weighted vests might help older adults meet weight loss goals, but solution for corresponding bone loss still elusive
Scientists find new way to predict how bowel cancer drugs will stop working – paving the way for smarter treatments
Breast cancer patients’ microbiome may hold key to avoiding damaging heart side-effects of cancer therapies
Exercise-induced protein revives aging muscles and bones
American College of Cardiology issues guidance on weight management drugs
Understanding the effect of bedding on thermal insulation during sleep
Cosmic signal from the very early universe will help astronomers detect the first stars
With AI, researchers find increasing immune evasion in H5N1
Study finds hidden effects of wildfires on water systems
[Press-News.org] Nicaragua Signs Tripartite Agreement on Minimum Wage Increases Through 2017This is the third tripartite agreement in which the parties involved have cooperatively sought to strengthen and further develop the free zones sector in Nicaragua, which currently employs over 100,000 people.