Western Visayas workers get P10 wage increase

BACOLOD CITY — The regional tripartite wage and productivity board granted yesterday a P10 wage increase to workers in Western Visayas effective Aug 16.

Carlos Boteros, regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment and the wage board’s chairman, said they agreed to provide workers with an immediate relief from the spiraling cost of living but also considered the affordability of companies in Western Visayas.

Labor representative Wennie Sancho protested the P10 wage increase, saying it was a far cry from the P65 the labor sector had demanded.

"The workers are considered by the state as the primary economic force and their right to a living wage should not be denied on a mere speculation that a higher wage adjust—ment would result in retrenchment and closure of companies," Sancho said.

Other labor groups had petitioned for a minimum wage hike of P125 and P200.

But the wage board’s management representatives opposed the proposals and instead offered a living allowance of P5, claiming that companies are not also spared from the spiraling costs of production, fuel and other operational expenses.

The new wage order sets the daily minimum wage at P200 for mill workers, P170 for farm workers in the sugar sector, and P190 for non-agricultural employees.

Agricultural workers in plantations will receive a daily minimum wage of P170, and those in non-plantations, P145.

Workers of retail and service companies with no more than 10 employees and those in the cottage and handicraft sector will get a staggered P15 increase — an initial P10 on Aug. 16 and P5 on April 16, 2005.