The business sector is holding meetings to get a consensus on action they will take following the approval by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) of the highest wage increase so far in Western Visayas.
Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Sunday, May, 15, thanked the wage boards in Western Visayas and the National Capital Region for heading his call to expedite the review of the current minimum wage in their regions.
“Let me cite the good job done by the NCR and Region VI wage boards for taking the extra mile in resolving with dispatch the petitions for wage adjustments in their jurisdictions,” he said.
Following the lead of the NCR and Western Visayas, Bello said he expects the other regional wage boards to issue their respective wage orders in the coming days and week.
“I am confident we can overcome the odds in wage-setting if only to help ease the living condition of our minimum wage earners,” he said.
Business groups in Western Visayas will study whether to will file an appeal on the wage hike before the RTWPB in the region or before the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), Frank Carbon, vice president for the Visayas of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and chief executive officer of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBBCI), said on Sunday.
Carbon said he will meet with the MBCCI members and with the other business groups in Negros and with their counterparts in Panay to get a consensus on the course of action to take.
The RTWPB approved daily wage increase for workers in private establishments will range from P55 to P110, Labor Regional Director Sixto Rodriguez Jr. said on Friday, May 13.
The RTWPB in a separate order also increased the wages of “kasambahays (domestic help)” from P4,000 to P4,500 a month, he added.
The NWPC will review the wage increase in the region before it becomes final, Rodriguez said.
The RTWPB increased the daily wages of employees in private establishments employing 10 workers and below from P310 to P420 or by P110, and for those employing more than 10 workers from P395 to P450 or by P55, Rodriguez said.
It also increased the wages of agricultural workers from P315 to P410, or by P95.
They will become final after they are reviewed and approved by the NWPC and after publication, so it is likely to take effect on or before June 12, Rodriguez said.*