Marcela Rebelo
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - One of the objectives of the new Minister of Labor and Employment, Luís Marinho, is an increase in the minimum wage, which is currently US$ 126 (R$ 300). "We should work for a permanent policy to enhance the minimum wage as a way to combat exclusion, as a way to carry out income distribution in the country," he declared.

Marinho said he intends to work in harmony with the government. "We shall certainly work together to establish a decent minimum wage for our country, as the government has pledged," he avowed.

In his inaugural address, Marinho said he will continue the projects already developed in the Ministry. He added that he will do his best to justify the trust placed in him by President Lula and will try, in the Ministry of Labor, to represent the ideas and proposals he sought to defend throughout his career as a union activist.

Translation: David Silberstein