A former labor representative to the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB 6) described the P30 daily wage hike in Western Visayas “not substantial,” noting that the previous wage order in June last year was P55 per day.
To issue a lower wage order would further erode the purchasing power of workers, according to Wennie Sancho, former labor representative to the RTWPB 6, who is also the Secretary General of General Alliance of Workers Association.
While it is not enough, Sancho said the P30 daily wage increase is better than nothing.
The workers have to bite the bullet, the labor leader said.
Sancho also said that the implementation of wage order is also delayed, “it should be retroactive.”
Private sector employees in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, and other parts of Western Visayas will receive a P30 increase in their daily minimum wage, or P480 from the current P450, starting on Nov. 16.
In Wage Order No. RBVl-27 approved Oct. 16 and made public over the weekend, the RTWPB in Western Visayas ordered that the new salary in non-agriculture/industrial/commercial establishments employing more than 10 workers should be P480, P450 for businesses with 10 or less employees, and P440 in the agriculture sector.
The new minimum salary of kasambahays or domestic workers, on the other hand, is P5,000 a month, or an increase of P500, as per Wage Order No. RBVI-DW-05, also set to take effect next month.
Chief Executive Officer Frank Carbon of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry disclosed that they are opposing the wage hike, stressing that small businesses have not yet recovered from the effects of COVID-19 pandemic, on top of increasing prices of fuel and food.
Carbon also said that the RTWPB failed to look into the productivity of the business sector.
The RTWPB6 decided on a P30 daily wage hike, following a series of consultations, and considering the existing socio-economic conditions in Western Visayas.
(Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)