Workers at the Panama Canal have not had a salary increase since the US$0.83 raise in 1999. But in the intervening 16 years their purchasing power has dropped 40 due to inflation. They are demanding US$10 an hour, to be applied between 2016-2019. Given management's lack of response, they have taken their demand to Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela. The canal injects US$1 billion annually into the Panamanian economy.