Metro workers get extra pay

Here’s good news for workers in Metro Manila.

The National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) announced yesterday that the P5 cost of living allowance (COLA) granted by a previous wage order will now be integrated in the basic wage.

“The P5 COLA  is now included  in the basic pay  of the minimum wage earners in National Capital Region (NCR) effective Aug. 28,” Ciriaco Lagunzad III, NWPC director, said.

Upon integration to the basic wage,  the P5 will then be included in the computation  of workers’ wage-related  benefits.

Under the Labor Code  wage-related benefits include the 13th month pay, the equivalent of 11 paid regular holidays, the  five days service incentive leave and the premiums under the Social Security Service, Philhealth, Pag-ibig and Employees Compensation.

Last May 30, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Metro Manila approved an additional P5 COLA and a P15 increase in the basic wage  of  workers in the region.

But the wage board exempted distressed, retail/service establishments employing not more than 10 workers, establishments  adversely affected by natural calamities and micro and small indigenous exporters as certified  by the  Export  Development Council from giving the mandatory salary increases.

Lagunzad said  establishments covered by the exemption have until Sept. 4 to file their petition for exemption before the regional wage  board.

Meanwhile, the NWPC announced that the third leg of  the Diskwento  Consumer Caravan at the parking area of the Sunshine Mall in FTI, Taguig City will push through on Monday.

The caravan is  a component of the non-wage benefit program aimed at easing the financial burden on low-income earning households.

The consumer caravan mobilizes retail outlets to sell basic food and non-food consumer items at lower prices in highly accessible areas.

The National Food Authority (NFA), on the other hand, will sell cheap rice, cooking oil and sugar  while Botika ng Bayan under the Philippine International Training Corp., will sell low-priced medicines, while the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Plants  and Industries will sell vegetables and give away free seeds, respectively.