The junking of the workers’ petition for wage increase may not be final, but different labor unions met last Friday and agreed to make a petition before Congress asking it to amend the law giving the regional wage board the power to determine the wage increases in the regions.
The Alliance of Progressive Labor, the Alliance of Labor Unions and their affiliate labor groups discussed their next move after the Regional Wage Board denied the proposed wage increase in Central Visayas.
APL-Visayas filed for a P136.20 increase while ALU sought a P75 across-the-board increase in the minimum wages of the workers in the private sector in the region.
APL chairman Jose Tomongha said that they will make a petition seeking to amend the Republic Act 6727, or the “Wage Rationalization Act of 1989” to limit the voting powers of the government representatives, especially the Department of Trade and Industry and National Economic Development Authority in the wage board.
Tomongha said they were greatly disappointed by the decision of the two representatives of these government agencies voting for the denial of their petition instead of favoring the workers.
“We will be asking the Congress to amend the voting powers of NEDA and DTI. Dili sila angay pabotaron during sa deliberation kay ang ilang role sa board igo ra man unta mag-present sa economic situation sa rehiyon,” he explained.
With this, he said that they will hold a petition signing to gather the support of the workers in the region and submit their signatures to the legislators in the Congress requesting to amend R.A. 6727.
Tomongha said this will be the first time that all labor unions in the region will unite to push for the amendment of the law.
Under Republic Act No 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act of 1989, the boards have the power to grant wage increase in their respective regions based on 10 factors namely living wages; wage adjustment vis-à-vis the consumer price index, cost of living, the needs of workers and their families, the need to induce industries to invest in the countryside, standards of living, prevailing wage levels, fair return of the capital invested and employers’ capacity to pay of employers, effects on employment generation and family income, and equitable distribution of income and wealth.
Each board is composed by the DOLE regional director, as chairperson, the regional directors of the National Economic and Development Authority and the Department of Trade and Industry as vice chairpersons and two members each from the workers and employers sectors.
But Tomongha said that the demand of the workers is always not granted because the labor sector is always outnumbered.
“The DTI and NEDA are always siding with the employers,” he said.
He said the decision of the RTWPB was questionable because not all members of the board were present when the latest deliberation was made.
DOLE regional director Elias Cayanong, who also sits as chairman of the RTWPB, was in Manila when the deliberations were done and members of the board decided to deny the petitions of APL and ALU.
In a separate interview, Cayanong said that what happened during the deliberations on Thursday was not yet the final decision of the board.
He explained that the board cannot make a major decision if not all members are present. Likewise, he said that what happened last Thursday was not yet final because the labor representatives in the board may still come up with a counter-proposal.
He said that the counter-offer has to be made because the P75 and P136.20 increase that the workers demanded was too high.
For his part, Marianito Ventura of the Trade Unions of the Philippines and Allied Services, one of the representatives of the labor sector in the RTWPB said yesterday that they will make counter-proposal when the board convenes again on Monday.
“Dili pa gyud to final kay kulang man ang miyembro sa board. Everybody should be present when the board comes up with a major decision,” he said. With this, he said that there is still hope for the workers in the region to get an increase in their daily minimum pay.
Another representative of the labor sector in the RTWPB is Jose Boquecosa representing ALU. — /BRP