Board approves wage hike petitions

CEBU, Philippines — The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board - 7 has agreed to raise the daily pay of minimum wage earners in Central Visayas.

Jose Tomongha, one of the labor representatives to the wage board, said the body approved a P20 increase per day for workers in Class A cities and municipalities.

Meanwhile, those in cities and municipalities classified as class B, C, or D will get a P15 increase in daily wage.

Those working in establishments that have less than 10 workers will get a P10 increase in daily wage.

"Lain lain ang increase kay depende sa economic condition sa lugar," Tomongha told The Freeman.

The following are the classifications of local government units in Region 7:

Class A – Cities of Carcar, Cebu, Danao, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Naga, and Talisay and the municipalities of Compostela, Consolacion, Cordova, Liloan, Minglanilla, and San Fernando in Cebu.

Class B – Cities of Toledo, Bogo, and the rest of the municipalities in Cebu except Bantayan and Camotes Islands.

Class C – Cities and municipalities in Bohol and Negros Oriental.

Class D – Municipalities in Siquijor and municipalities in Bantayan and Camotes Islands.

The amounts approved are a far cry from those asked by the labor sector.

To recall, the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines asked for a P120 increase in daily wage for all private workers in Central Visayas.

Meanwhile, the Cebu Labor Coalition, NLM-Katipunan, Metaphil Workers Union and Unionbank Employees Association asked for a P155 increase.

During the public hearing the other month, the business sector opposed the petitions strongly.

The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Mactan Export Processing Zone Chamber of Exporters and Manufacturers, Philexport-Cebu. and Cebu Furniture Industry Foundation have filed position papers opposing the increase.

In a statement to The Freeman, ALU-TUCP said the amounts approved by RTWPB “will not lift workers out from poverty.”

“The segmentation of salaries into different classes will promote heavy migration of workers and their families to areas where salary is the highest. This will create bigger problems because cities will be inundated with population more than its design and capacity,” the group said.

“With the prices of commodities and services almost the same in class A, B, C and D, there will still be bigger problems because those in the lowest rate areas will not be able to afford the high inflation. With this wage order, the wage board just created bigger problems than solutions. This is a big mistake,” it added.

Alvin Villamor, chairman of RTWPB-7, said the wage board will finalize the new wage order on June 18, 2018.

"After the drafting of the new wage order, we will submit it to the National Wage and Productivity Commission for approval. Once they approved it, it will be forwarded to us then we will publish it in a newspaper of general circulation then the new wage order will take effect 15 days after publication," he said.

Villamor is also the regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment-7.

Steven Yu, vice president of the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce, described the recent decision as “a bitter pill to swallow”.

“Considering the twin challenges of rising costs of doing business, and intense business competition. Surely, the business community will feel the pain that this brings. Businesses will tighten their belts to survive. We just hope that the government will find ways to cushion the rising fuel costs by instituting some relief measures i.e. suspension of excise taxes, etc. We also hope that inflation can be contained so interest rates will not go further up, and GDP growth targets can be achieved to spur overall economic activities,” he said. — with Carlo L. Lorenciana/JMO (FREEMAN)