The National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) chaired by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has affirmed the P55 to P110 minimum wage increase for Western Visayas, which will take effect in early June.
The DOLE national office in a post on its website Wednesday, May 18, initially announced that the Western Visayas wage hike would take effect on June 3 but latter corrected the date to June 5.
Labor Regional Director Sixto Rodriquez Jr. said the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) wage hike order for Western Visayas will take effect 15 days from its publication.
They are aiming to publish the order on Thursday or Friday, May 19 or 20, and the new wage hike will take effect in 15 days thereafter, he said.
The Western Visayas RTWPB approved the new wage hike on May 12 and it was affirmed by the NWPC on Tuesday, May 17.
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.
At the RTWPB hearings labor groups pushed for a daily minimum wage of from P450 to P750 in Western Visayas.
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, said the business sector has yet to receive a copy of the new wage order, and the affirmation of the NWPC.*