Metro workers to get pay hike next month

MANILA, Philippines - Workers in Metro Manila will get their salary increase in mid-October, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said yesterday.

Undersecretary Ciriaco Lagunzad said the newly approved wage order in the National Capital Region (NCR) will officially take effect on Oct. 10.

Lagunzad noted that effectivity of wage order begins 15 working days after publication in a national newspaper. Wage Order No. NCR-18 came out in The STAR yesterday. 

Under the new wage order, employers in Metro Manila must provide their workers, particularly minimum wage earners, additional P10 in their daily basic pay. The latest increase brings to P436 the minimum wage rate for non-agricultural workers in Metro Manila and to P399 for agricultural workers in the region.

Aside from the basic pay, workers in the region are also getting P30 cost of living allowance (COLA) as provided under the wage order approved by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) last year.

The Wage Board ordered the integration to the basic pay of P15 out of the previously approved P30 COLA effective January 2014.

The new minimum wage order will cover all minimum wage earners in the private sector in the National Capital Region regardless of their position, designation or status of employment and irrespective of method of payment.

Household service workers and workers of duly registered Barangay Micro Business Enterprises (BMBEs) are exempted from the new wage order.

Distressed establishments, new business enterprises and companies employing less than 10 workers and those affected by natural calamities may apply for exemption from paying their workers additional P10.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, however, said it will file a petition for reconsideration of the new wage order. The TUCP’s two factions filed separate petitions seeking P83 and P85 wage increase for workers in Metro Manila.

Those against the new wage order can file an appeal within 10 days from the publication of the order before the RTWPB, which will transmit the petition to the National Wages and Productivity Commission.

Workers may also file a complaint before the DOLE-NCR against employers not complying with the new minimum wage rate.