Nat'l wage body affirms reason to hold hearings

CEBU, Philippines -  The National Wages and Productivity Commission has affirmed the decision of the Regional Wage Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board 7 that a “supervening condition” exists to merit the hearing of wage hike petitions filed by two labor unions.

Lawyer Ernesto Carreon, one of the labor representatives of RTWPB, said supervening condition exists because the inflation rate in Region 7, which is 5.1 percent, is higher than that of the National Capital Region, which is 4.1 percent, and that the price of fuel in the region is higher compared to the price in NCR.

Carreon said the first public hearings will be conducted in Negros Oriental, Siquijor and Cebu. The wage hike petitions were filed by the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Congress of the Philippines and the Alliance of Progressive Labor.

ALU-TUCP is seeking a P100 across the board daily wage hike for workers in Central Visayas while the APL is pushing for a P120 across the board increase in daily wage. RTWPV 7 approved a wage increase in September 2010 and under the rules, wage boards cannot adjust workers’ salaries for a year after the last increase unless “supervening conditions” are present.

In a position paper, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) said it will not oppose the wage petition.CCCI said, however, said that a wage hike is “untimely” and will add insult to injury because Central Visayas is still recovering from the effects of the global economic crisis. — (FREEMAN)