Wage board eyes pay adjustment in Eastern Visayas

TACLOBAN CITY, Sept. 21 (PNA) – The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) will likely raise the minimum wage for workers in private establishments in Eastern Visayas after conducting a series of public consultations.

The board earlier initiated the consultation in Ormoc City for participants from the western part of Leyte and Southern Leyte province. Another venue was in Catbalogan City in Samar for stakeholders in Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, and Samar provinces.

“The consultations were the most comprehensive having been participated by nearly 200 representatives from the management and labor sector all over the region,” said Department of Labor and Employment Regional Director and RTWBP chairman Elias Cayanong.

The daily wage adjustment proposed by workers ranges from PHP5 to PHP266.

“There is only one voice among the labor groups and that is wage increase. Surprisingly however, the management sector seems to support the clamor and expressed willingness to pay for a wage hike. 

Only a meager five among the 200 participants opposed the proposal,” Cayanong recalled.

To wrap up the consultations, the board will hold a public hearing on Oct. 12 at the Leyte Park Hotel, this city, to solicit the stand of the public on the wage issue. The hearing is said to be the last step before the board sits to deliberate for wage adjustment.

On March 30, 2015, under Wage Order No. 18, the wage body raised the take-home pay of workers by integrating part of the cost-of-living allowance (COLA) into the basic wage in all sectors except the sugar industry.

For the sugar industry, the RTWPB granted an increase of PHP14.50 to bring the daily minimum wage to PHP235-PHP262 from the lowest PHP221. In Eastern Visayas, a family of five needs PHP235 daily to sustain their basic needs.

Wage Order No. 18 added the PHP15 COLA to the basic wage, raising it to PHP253 a day for non-agriculture workers, PHP231 for the cottage/handicraft sector, PHP228 for retail/service employees, 

and PHP234 for the non-sugar agriculture sector. The PHP15 COLA was granted under Wage Order No. 16 issued in May 2011. (PNA)

FPV/SARWELL Q. MENIANO