Region 1 workers to get P8 pay hike starting Feb. 5

SAN FERNANDO, La Union, Philippines  â€“ Private sector workers in Region 1 are getting an additional pay of P8 per day starting Feb. 5, according to the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board.

Wage board director Grace Ursua said the start of the wage increase is based on the effectivity of Wage Order No. RB1-16, which sets the minimum daily wage rate in the region from P205 to P213.

Ursua said the new wage order provides for a mandatory floor wage (Tier One) and a voluntary incentive scheme (Tier Two) based on labor productivity and business performance.

“Our new wage fixing tool operates to protect the right of our workers to decent pay and remuneration while encouraging productivity which could redound to the benefit of both the business and the employees,” she said.

She said the wage order simplifies the wage structure from industry classification to asset size as basis in the classification of establishments, benefiting mainly workers who were previously receiving a daily minimum wage of P205 in micro establishments and non-plantation agriculture.

Based on latest data, micro establishments employ around 55.1 percent of the total workforce in the region, or roughly 118,847 workers.

“The purpose of the increase is to adjust the floor wage closer to the present poverty threshold level computed at P227 per day,” Ursua said.

Meanwhile, other workers in the non-agriculture sector will receive P9, P11 or P20 increase in their daily wages depending on their companies’ asset size.

Excluded from the coverage of the new wage order are household or domestic workers; persons employed in the personal service of another, including family drivers; and workers and employees of registered barangay micro business enterprises with certificate of authority pursuant to Republic Act 9178.

The wage order also provides exemption to distressed establishments, retail/service establishments employing not more than 10 workers, and establishments that have been adversely affected by natural calamities.

Establishments falling under any of these conditions must apply for exemption from coverage of the wage order with the wage board or any of the Labor department’s field offices nearest them.

A provision also directs the wage board to issue productivity advisories to guide employers in granting voluntary incentives under Tier Two based on productivity and business results.

The wage board is composed of Ursua as chair, Florante Leal of the Department of Trade and Industry and Nestor Rillon of the National Economic and Development Authority as vice chair, Jerry Parlan and Salvador Poserio as employers’ sector representatives, and Eliseo Flora and Catherine Pangan as workers’ sector representatives.  â€“ With Eva Visperas