Deciding on wage hike for CV: Not an easy decision - RTWPB-7

CEBU, Philippines — Members of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB)-7 admitted that it was not easy coming up with the P33 to P43 daily wage increase for the minimum wage earners in Central Visayas.

“Madugo gyud ang wage deliberation. It wasn’t easy. For every peso increase, we have to fight for it,” said RTWPB-7 labor representative Atty. Nora Analyn Demeterio-Diego, in a press conference.

For Dr. Philip Tan, RTWPB-7 management representative, many businessmen were angry at him for the recent wage hike.

“Left and right daghan kaayo ko og text nadawat, gikasab-an na gani ko ani (by fellow businessmen). But I have no choice, we (board members) have to agree,” he said.

National Economic Development Authority-7 Director Jenniger Bretaña, RTWPB-7 vice chairperson, too, said the wage deliberation was not easy, especially that the management side started with a zero wage increase while the labor side started with a P150 daily wage increase.

Nevertheless, she said, the wage board members settled for P33 and P43 as minimum wage increase in Region VII, which will take effect on October 2, 2024

The Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), in their statement, said the P33 minimum wage increase will result in businesses increasing prices, thus fueling inflation.

“This increase will highly contribute to the increase of companies’ operating expenses thus consequently, they will pass this on to their customers,” says MCCI president Mark Ynoc.

He said that there might also be potential job losses since this is the major cost in most industries.

He said that companies, especially the small and medium enterprises, would be forced to cut jobs to maintain profitability and competitiveness.

“The government should instead find ways to manage inflation rates to bring down costs of basic necessities, so we do not have to resort to regular wage hikes,” Ynoc said.

For Partido Manggawa-Cebu, the RTWPB-7 did not only fail but also has “created new layers of unequal worlds for workers under a spliced wage orders”.

“The wage mechanism in the country has really gone from bad to worse because Congress failed to rectify this injustice during the last 35 years”, it added.

In a separate statement, RTWPB-7 said that the P33 increase was granted by the board for “all the three geographical classifications but as a result of the simplification  of the wage structure where the non-agriculture category is merged with the agriculture and non-agriculture with less than 10 workers, those in the latter category would have to shell out an extra PhP 10.00 or Php 5.00 in order to keep up with the minimum wage of the former”.

In Class A, those previously belonging to the non-agriculture category will simply add the P33 increase but those  under the agriculture and non-agriculture with less than 10 workers will have a total of P43 increase (P10 to close the gap then between agriculture and non-agriculture with less than 10 workers and non-agriculture, plus the P33 increase), bringing a uniform wage rate of P501.00 for Class A.

The same scenario will happen to Classes B and C “but those belonging in the agriculture and non-agriculture with less than 10 workers will be adding only P5.00 on top of the P33.00 increase granted by the board in order to reach the P463.00 and P453.00 uniform rate in the said classes”.

The increase was arrived at in consideration of several factors such as the positions raised during the public hearing, the wage determination criteria provided under RA 6727 and the economic condition of the region, particularly the 2023 poverty threshold and the trends in inflation/inflation rates.

“About 364,834 minimum wage earners in the region will directly benefit from the increase while other workers may be indirectly benefited due to correction of wage distortions,” RTWPB-7 further said. — (FREEMAN)