Hearing on wage hike petitions ongoing
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said that there are still eight wage petitions pending with other Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards nationwide.
“There are at least eight petitions pending. The petitions range from P50 to P128.60 across-the-board daily wage increase, and RTWPBs concerned are currently holding a series of sectoral consultations and public hearings on said petitions,” Baldoz, in a news release, said.
The labor chief said the RTWPBs of Region 7 and CARAGA Region are in the advanced stages of consultations and deliberations and are expected to issue their wage orders soon.
Earlier, the RTWPB in the National Capital Region had issued Wage Order No. 15 granting a P22 daily wage hike to all NCR minimum wage earners in the private sector.
The rules and regulations for the wage order were issued last June 29, 2010 and the wage increase took effect July 1, 2009.
The wage order sets the new minimum wage in the NCR at P404 per day for non-agricultural workers and P367 for workers in agriculture, private hospitals with bed capacity of 100 or less, retail/service establishments with 15 or less markers and manufacturing establishments with less than 10 workers.
As in previous wage orders, a one-year exemption may be granted to certain types of establishments, such as distressed establishments, retail/service establishments regularly employing not more than 10 workers, establishments whose total assets are not more than P3 million, and establishments adversely affected by natural calamities. September 15 is the deadline for the filing of exemption to the wage increase.
Baldoz had earlier expressed her view for a need to study and review the country’s wage setting mechanism through extensive consultation for the National Wages and Productivity Commission, or NWPC, to come out with a technically-sound guidelines in the determination of what should contain a two-tier wage fixing system with a minimum wage as basic floor wage or safety wage for all workers across all industries and regions plus performance-based wage increases and bonuses using industry wage as basis for negotiations for unions and employees.
“The idea is to determine additional wage increases on top of new wage that will “keep body and soul together” which will be in the form of incentives, profit sharing, bonuses, etc. and on the basis of productivity and company viability,” Baldoz said.
