A daily minimum wage of from P450 to P750 in Western Visayas is being pushed, but management is asking that any increase be deferred until the end of the year because they have yet to recover from the pandemic that brought “the business sector to its knees”.
Both sides aired their positions at a Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) hearing of a wage increase petition at the Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City, Negros Occidental, Friday, April 8.
Labor Regional Director and RTWPB chairperson, Sixto Rodriguez Jr., said they are conducting two more hearings in Iloilo and Aklan next week and will come up with a decision soon.
The hearing was held on the petition of Fishta Union of Employees for Reforms Through Solidarity Action for a minimum wage of P750 for all workers in private establishments.
The current WV minimum wage is from P310 to P395 per day, depending on the industry classification as provided under Wage Order 25.
Rodriguez said he was impressed that other interested parties who said P750 per day is too much offered to instead pay P450 and P550.
“That is reasonable enough but we have to deliberate on this,” he said.
As much as possible they want to come up with a decision by May 1, which is Labor Day, but he is not sure they can do so in time, Rodriguez said.
They were ordered by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to act with dispatch. “In fact with or without the petition we have to act on it because there is a direct order coming from the secretary,” he said.
Rodriguez said he could not give a categorical date when the decision will be out but they will act on it at the soonest possible time.
Labor representatives stressed that the current wages in the region are no longer adequate to survive, with the rising prices of commodities and the drop in the value of the peso.
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 at the moment a wage hike is not the answer to the socio-economic problems of the region.
Massive job creation for those who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic is what is needed, he said.
”The two-year pandemic has brought the business sector to its knees. It resulted to massive business closures, loss of jobs, and practically reduced to the minimum our customers,” he said.
Their situation was further aggravated by the Typhoon Odette devastation and the rising prices of fuel, he said.
“We are not yet out of the woods. We are in the middle of a perfect storm. Our recovery is just starting,” Carbon said.
He asked that the call for a wage increase be instead tackled in the third and fourth quarter of the year.
Representatives of the Bacolod Adventist Medical Center, Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations, Lopez Sugar Central, Hotel and Restaurant Association of Negros Occidental and Bacolod Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry also said they are opposed to a wage hike at this time.
Nathaniel Barrios of Palawan Pawnshop said they were open to granting a minimum wage of P550, while Dr. Jose Teody Cabantug, University of St. La Salle human resource director, said they were okay with a P55 increase for a minimum wage of P450.
Noly Rosales, Kilusang Mayo Uno secretary general, said if management is on its knees labor is crawling. His group supports the call for a P750 minimum wage but is okay with P550, he said.
Representatives of various other labor groups also aired their support for the call for a wage hike at the hearing.
National Economic and Development Authority Regional Director and RTWPB vice chairperson, Mylene Rosales, said they understand the plight of both parties and will deliberate on their positions.*